


Tainted Love

by Candy_A



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Time, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-10
Updated: 2015-10-10
Packaged: 2018-04-25 19:22:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 52,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4973143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Candy_A/pseuds/Candy_A
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny's bout with a strange illness ultimately brings Steve and Danny closer, until an unexpected crisis threatens their future.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tainted Love, Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place during Season Three, just after Danny is granted shared custody of Grace, preventing Rachel and Stan from taking her to Las Vegas, where Stan has business ventures and was planning to move the family. From that point on, this story does not follow series canon.

"But I could stay home and take care of you," Grace protested for what seemed like the hundredth time that morning. Danny adored his daughter, but the pounding in his head and the relentless nausea were making even her expressions of concern hard to take.

"I'll be fine, Gracie. I'm just going to stay here on the couch. I've got my phone and the TV remote. You go on to school. Alexis' mom is out front, so you need to get going." He'd called Grace's friend's mother and asked her to pick Grace up, and she had readily agreed. Their houses weren't far apart; they often traded off driving the girls one place or another.

"You shouldn't be by yourself all day, Danno," she said. "Are you gonna call Uncle Steve?" she asked as she stood by the door. 

"I'm gonna call him right now, honey. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

"Okay." She paused at the door, chewing her bottom lip, as if she still didn't think going to school was a good idea. "I'm gonna call you at lunchtime." 

That made Danny smile. "Okay, monkey. I love you."

"Love you, too, Daddy. Bye." She reluctantly went out the door, pulling it shut behind her. 

Danny was glad she was on her way, because he had to get up and stagger into the bathroom to hang over the toilet yet again and heave uselessly until bile came up. Grace was right, whatever he had was bad, and he really shouldn't be alone. He realized that as his ass hit the floor in the bathroom and he just couldn't get up again. He sat there against the wall shivering, glad his phone was in the pocket of his robe. He hit speed dial and waited.

"What's up, Danny? Where are you?" 

"I'm really sick," he said, knowing his voice was a shadow of its usual tone. 

"What's wrong?"

"I dunno exactly."

"I'll be right there. Is Grace with you?"

"No, I sent her to school with another parent."

"Okay. Don't move. I'm on my way."

"No worries there. Just let yourself in." Danny let the phone slip out of his hand and just sat there, his head against the cool wall of the bathroom, not sure if he was glad for the gentle stream of air conditioning coming out of the vent and cooling him off, or if it was making him shiver. Something was. 

He wasn't sure if he'd passed out and Steve coming in just brought him back, or if Steve had really broken that many speed limits and used his lights and siren to get there. All he knew is that gentle, strong arms were scooping him up from the floor and he felt too sick to fight off being carried, as much as his mind protested it. His body simply wouldn't cooperate. His pounding head felt too good against Steve's shoulder, and his aching body was too secure in his arms. Seconds later, the familiar feeling of his own mattress was underneath him, and he sighed in relief. 

"Danny, come on, talk to me." Steve sounded panicked. Danny opened his eyes, realizing then he'd just relied on sound, smell, and touch to know it was Steve and that he was okay. He hadn't bothered responding to him.

"Yeah, okay, just don't shake me," he protested feebly, because if Steve made his shoulder vibrate with a gentle shake one more time, he was going to vomit all over him. Assuming he had anything left to force out. He gagged a little, but nothing came out and he didn't have the strength to fight it.

"I'm calling 9-1-1, Danny. You were unconscious."

"No I wasn't. I just wasn't answering you because I feel like shit. Don't call. I'm just sick." Danny clung to Steve, not really letting him get away. Being held was the first relief he'd felt since his first round of vomiting in the wee hours of the morning. 

"Okay, buddy, relax. I've got you." Steve did relent then and just sat there and held him for a few minutes. 

"It's just the flu."

"Okay," Steve agreed, but Danny could tell he was just placating him. Still, he wasn't making him move anymore and the motion of Steve's hand on his back was calming.

"I'm really sick," he mumbled. It was a useless statement; Steve had just agreed not to call 9-1-1, at least temporarily. He could see how sick Danny was.

"I know, Danno. How long has this been going on?"

"Just since about three this morning."

"How many times did you throw up?"

"A lot. I don't know. My stomach hurts. I can't throw up anything else. My head feels like it's gonna explode."

"Any diarrhea?"

"What a nice idea. Not yet."

"You don't feel feverish." Steve's hand felt good against his face, even if he was just checking for fever. Danny wondered if he was losing his mind, if it was just because Steve was there, holding him and rubbing his back, or if he really did feel a little less awful.

"Tired," he mumbled. 

"I bet you are, buddy. It's okay. Think you could keep down some water?"

"Don't know. I doubt it."

"You're probably getting dehydrated. We'll try a few sips and see if you can keep it down, okay?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"I'm just gonna let you rest on the pillows." 

"Don't go call an ambulance or I'll get up long enough to shoot you."

"I swear, I'm only going for water," Steve protested, but there was humor in his voice.

"Okay." Danny felt himself eased back on the pillows, and he missed the comfort of Steve's presence as soon as he was gone. His throat was raw from vomiting, so he cooperated with sipping a little water through the straw when Steve did return.

"Good boy. We'll give that a little time and see if it stays down."

Danny felt the bed dip and then Steve was stretched out behind him as he curled there on his side, feeling miserable. Steve was close to him, and he felt like whatever was going on with this weird flu, Steve would take care of him. He let himself doze, the exhaustion of being so ill and the brief break from the vomiting lulling him into a light sleep. 

********

Steve was not a man of indecision, so waffling on what to do about a crisis was not his style and felt like psychological torture. Still, Danny was vehement about not going to the hospital, and he was too ill to sit up in an emergency room or urgent care center and wait to be seen. At the moment, he was sleeping peacefully. His color was awful, somewhere between grayish green and just plain deathly pale, but his pulse was normal and his breathing was even and untroubled. Steve had stuck a thermometer under his arm while he slept and found his temperature normal. The fact he could move Danny’s arm at all without waking him was worrisome, but Danny was in the exhausted sleep of someone who had been sick all night and was finally at peace. Plus, given Danny’s propensity for insomnia, when he did sleep, he often was catching up for missed hours.

When Grace called at noon, Steve reassured her Danny was fine, just sleeping it off. He hoped he hadn’t made the wrong decision honoring Danny’s wishes not to be rushed to the hospital. If he didn’t wake on his own soon, Steve planned to try waking him, and if that didn’t work, they’d be on their way to the hospital. As if summoned by his thoughts, a couple bleary blue eyes slowly opened to slits and stared at him.

“Hey,” Steve said, smiling. He had pulled a chair up by the bed and pretended to be paying attention to reviewing his e-mails on his phone. He was really sitting a vigil, hoping for this very development.

“Hey,” Danny replied, but his voice was hoarse and he looked like speaking was a monumental effort. “Why did you hit me over the head with a hammer?” he grumbled, rubbing his eyes. 

“Guess that means you’ve got a headache.”

“I’ve thought of cutting it off.”

“We need to try getting some more water in you, maybe a little Gatorade to build your electrolytes back up.”

“Okay.”

“No arguments?” Steve asked, arching his eyebrows.

“The nausea’s better, I think. I just feel like somebody jumped up and down on my body.”

“Being that sick takes a lot out of you.” Steve held a bottled water with a straw in it near Danny’s mouth so he could take a few pulls on it. He did. 

“Thanks for coming over,” Danny said, and Steve smiled. 

“I was in the neighborhood,” he joked, shrugging.

“When you just happened to walk in and find me on the floor,” he replied, rolling his eyes. 

“How do you feel?”

“Not as bad as before, but weak. I don’t feel like I can move. Like my legs weigh a hundred pounds each.”

“Could you have gotten into any bad food?”

“You make me sound like a stray dog eating out of the garbage.”

“We had lunch together yesterday, ate the same thing, so we know it’s not that. What about dinner?”

“You want me to describe the menu?” Danny grimaced. 

“Not if you’re going to vomit on me while you do it.”

“Rachel brought over some chicken salad she makes that I like. That’s the only thing I ate that Gracie didn’t.”

“Rachel’s bringing you treats now? She hated your guts and was suing you for custody a few weeks ago.”

“Things have been really strained since the Vegas thing, and I don’t think either one of us wants that for Grace’s sake, so we’ve been trying to be civil. She said it was a peace offering.”

“It tasted okay?”

“Great. I ate the whole thing she brought. She didn’t bring much of it...a small container. She said she’d made some because Stan likes it, too, and so she brought me part of that batch.”

“Chicken salad could go bad if it wasn’t refrigerated properly.”

“She brought it right from home and I ate it for dinner. I don’t think being in an air conditioned car would make it go bad. She brought it with her, picked up Grace at her dance lesson, and then came by here. She had dinner with us.”

“She and Grace ate that, too?”

“No, Rachel made a stir fry for them. Grace doesn’t like the chicken salad. It has fruit and nuts in it and she thinks it’s gross,” Danny added, chuckling.

“You eat chicken salad with fruit and nuts in it, but you get on me for having pineapple on my pizza?”

“Different things. Totally different,” Danny insisted, grinning faintly and gesturing, albeit a little feebly. 

“She stayed for dinner?”

“Don’t look at me like that. Nothing’s going on. Just a bury the hatchet kind of thing.”

“I’ll give her a call and see if Stan got sick from it.”

“Okay.” Danny sighed and looked down at the bed, fidgeting with the blanket. 

“What?”

“Huh? Oh, nothing. It just feels weird sometimes, being on the outside. She used to make that because I liked it so much. Now I get a little plastic bowl of it because Stan likes it. Some other guy is eating her chicken salad.”

“That sounded oddly perverted,” Steve said, and he was glad that Danny laughed out loud at that, even though it seemed to sap his energy. “Come on, drink a little more.”

“Yeah, okay.” Danny took more of the water. 

“Are you in any pain, except for the headache?”

“Just kind of sore from all the heaving and puking.”

“Is the water bothering your stomach?”

“Doesn’t seem to be.”

“Good.” 

“I don’t know if I can get up and around okay on my own,” he admitted. “I don’t want to scare Grace. I think I’m okay but I feel pretty shaky.”

“I’ll stay with you. I don’t want you cracking your head open on the toilet or something.”

“I just don’t want to pass out or fall or something in front of her.”

“Do you feel that shaky? Be honest with me, Danny. I’m not going to call 9-1-1 if you say yes.”

“Yeah, I feel light-headed and weird. Like walking around would be scary, if I had the energy to try it.”

“We’ll give it a few hours, and if you don’t feel stronger, we call for help, okay?”

“Okay,” Danny agreed, nodding. 

Danny seemed to feel better as the afternoon progressed, and he even consented to getting up and making a slow walk to the bathroom with Steve hovering by his side. He made an uncharacteristically feeble attempt and corralling his hair into some kind of tidiness and didn’t even bother looking at his razor. He gladly got back in bed, though Steve propped him up with pillows so he was sitting up and continued easing his fluid intake along, adding Gatorade into the mix and finally talking Danny into eating a couple slices of dry toast as it got near dinner time. 

While he was watching a little TV and nibbling on the food, Steve took a break from his vigil to call Rachel.

“Steve, what’s wrong?” she asked. 

“Danny’s been sick--”

“Is he in the hospital?” she asked.

“No, he’s here at the house. He seems to be doing better, but he had some violent intestinal symptoms overnight and this morning.”

“Should I bring Grace here?”

“I think it’s fine for her to come home. He’s feeling better, sitting up and eating some toast right now. I’m staying over just to be sure he’s on solid footing. The reason I called was because I wondered if you or Stan had any ill effects from the chicken salad.”

“Excuse me?” she sounded stunned and a bit offended.

“This was a very sudden, violent illness, almost like food poisoning. Sometimes ingredients in dishes like chicken salad can spoil if the temperature conditions are right, or maybe an ingredient was spoiled to begin with... I’m assuming that means you guys didn’t have any ill effects?”

“No, none. Stan ate a large portion of it for dinner, and I had some as well. It was fine. I do know how to prepare and maintain food safely.”

“I’m sure you do, Rachel. I wasn’t trying to insult you. I’m worried about Danny because he was so ill. I thought I’d check to make sure it wasn’t something he ate. Obviously it was just a bad 24-hour virus.”

“You’re sure he’s not still contagious? If so, Grace should stay with me a day or so to avoid exposing her.”

“I doubt he’s still contagious if he ever was, but if you’d feel more comfortable keeping Grace with you overnight, I’m sure Danny will be okay with taking the precaution.”

“I’ll pick her up and bring her back here for tonight then. Thank you for calling,” she said.

“Yeah, sure.” He broke the connection and sighed, trying not to dislike Rachel more than he already did. She hadn’t really asked how Danny was, or to speak to him, or for any details of his illness. The only thing she cared about was if he was in the hospital or contagious, which would presumably change her arrangements for Grace. He went back into the bedroom and sat in the chair he’d spent most of the day in while watching over Danny.

“What?” Danny asked. “You have a face.”

“Rachel’s gonna pick up Grace and keep her over night in case you’re contagious,” Steve said.

“I take it that was the extent of the get well message she sent me?”

“That was about it, though she did ask if you were in the hospital.”

“Sorry to disappoint her.”

“I’m sure that’s not how she meant it, Danny. Probably just trying to figure out if she needed to be on the job for Grace for the next few days.”

“Yeah, like you don’t have that base covered if something happens.”

“She’s mad at me now for questioning the safety of her chicken salad.”

“I take it Stan didn’t spend the night with his head in the toilet.”

“Nope, he reportedly ate a bunch of it and was fine.”

“Good old steel-belly Stan," Danny said, setting the empty plate aside. "Can't believe that actually tasted good. Thanks."

"I'm glad it's staying down and you're not nauseous."

"My stomach still feels weird, but I'm hungry."

"That's great," Steve said, smiling, relieved. Danny did seem better; his color was even a little less scary.

"Thanks," Danny said, smiling back at him. 

"It's just toast, buddy. We'll really break out the good stuff later - maybe a little chicken and some rice. Something really mild."

"I didn't mean the toast. You could have stuck me in the hospital. Waiting on me all day is a pain in the ass."

"It's not so bad. I'm glad you feel better."

"I'll be okay. I'm really sleepy. You mind if I just kind of...die for a while?" he asked, chuckling.

"Take it easy and sleep as much as you can. I've got a few calls to make," Steve said, standing. "I'll look in on you. Just yell if you need anything."

"I will." Danny's eyes drifted shut and it seemed like he was asleep before Steve even made it out of the room. 

********

Danny felt better when he woke up the next time, and even got out of bed on his own and ventured out to the living room to see where Steve was. 

“Hey, you’re up!” Steve said, smiling. He was sitting on the couch, staring at the TV, but not really looking as if he was focusing on it much. 

“I guess I am,” Danny said, grinning. “I feel steadier.” He sat on the opposite corner of the couch. “Still feels like it was a ten mile walk from the bedroom.”

“You were pretty sick. Takes a lot out of you. Ready for something else to eat?”

“Yes and no.”

“I don’t think you’ll get sick again as long was we don’t hit your stomach with something too heavy.”

“Hope not.” 

“Why don’t you pick something out on TV and I’ll make us something to eat?” Steve handed him the remote as he got up to go to the kitchen. 

“Sure, okay.” He was going to tell Steve he didn’t really need to stay, that he’d be all right, but he honestly didn’t feel all that good yet, and having Steve around helped him relax. 

“Here, drink this.” Steve seemed to reappear out of nowhere with a little individual bottle of Gatorade. 

“Where’d this come from?” Danny knew he didn’t have any in the refrigerator. He’d been too sick earlier to wonder where that beverage came from.

“When I called HQ to let them know I wasn’t coming back in, Kono asked if we needed anything, so I asked her to get us some Gatorade and a couple other things at the store so I could make you something mild to eat when you could hold it down.”

“That’s nice,” he replied, taking a drink of the Gatorade as directed. 

Steve made him a plain chicken breast and some rice for dinner which, bland as it was, he ate like it was steak and lobster. He felt stronger with some food in his stomach, and relaxed sitting there on the couch with Steve, watching a lineup of brainless sitcoms. When he jerked from dozing off for the third time, Steve went into the bedroom, fetched a pillow, and sat back down, putting it in his lap. 

“Lie down, Danno. You’re gonna snap your own neck if you keep that up.”

Danny stared at him a moment, wondering why he wasn’t urging him to go to bed. Because Steve knows you too well. He knows you like to sleep on the couch with the TV... Danny knew he should resist the offer, not fall asleep on Steve so he was obligated to sit up there all night with Danny in his lap, but it was too inviting. He still felt weak and sore from being sick, and lying down there with Steve made him feel better. Steve put the throw over him and Danny was fighting to stay awake long enough to enjoy the closeness. Being close to Steve was always nice. Maybe a little too nice. 

“Thanks,” he mumbled, and he felt Steve’s arm around go around him, instead of along the back of the couch.

“Get some sleep, buddy.” 

Danny tried to stay conscious but he was too comfortable, and in moments, he was sound asleep.

********


	2. Tainted Love, Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny's bout with a strange illness ultimately brings Steve and Danny closer, until an unexpected crisis threatens their future. See Chapter One for Notes.

As the days went by after Danny’s brief but intense illness, he didn’t give the illness itself too much thought. It was ugly and miserable, but it was over. At least, mostly. He thought his stomach seemed touchier, and he found himself eating lighter and blander since being so ill. He chalked that up to a fear of upsetting his stomach. 

Just the previous night, Rachel had sent him another batch of the chicken salad with Grace, with the message she was glad he was feeling better and hoped he could really enjoy it now that he was feeling well again. He’d tried to make himself eat it, but the thought of it turned his stomach, and he figured the association of being so ill after he ate it before had spoiled it for him, even made him think it smelled funny. 

“Hey, Gracie, your mom will want her container back,” he said, handing Grace a plastic grocery bag with the empty container in it. Rachel was picking her up that morning to take her for a long weekend trip with Stan and Charlie to visit friends of theirs who had a vacation house in the mountains. 

“Okay,” she took it, putting it with her things by the door. She knew Danny hadn't eaten it. “You should just tell her you don’t like it anymore because you ate it before you got sick. When I was little, remember how I wouldn’t eat spaghetti and meatballs for years because I got sick on them?”

“Back when you were little, years and years ago,” Danny joked, giving her a hug. “I’ll miss you this weekend, monkey. Be good.”

“I’m always good,” she joked, hugging him back before she moved away and picked up her things. “I think I heard Mom’s car,” she said. A moment later, the inevitable honk came.

“That sounds like your mother’s honk,” Danny said, and Grace gave him a look. It was her I know you’re being sarcastic about Mom look. “I know what a Mercedes honk sounds like,” he added.

“You’re not making it better, Danno,” she teased, grinning. “Are you and Uncle Steve gonna do something?”

Danny may not have thought much about his illness since he got better, but he had thought about the time he’d spent with Steve, and how Steve had taken care of him and been so good to him while he was so sick. Since then, it seemed like there was something more, something undefinable but different in how Steve acted around him...

“Daddy, are you listening?” Grace asked. 

“I’ll be fine, Gracie. Don’t worry about me. I’m sure Uncle Steve and I will figure out something to do.”

“Bye, Daddy,” she said, and he walked outside with her and waved to Rachel as she headed for the car and got in. Rachel stared at him for a long moment before smiling oddly and giving him a limp wave in return. Well, fuck, she must have another burr under her saddle about something now, Danny thought, sticking his hands in his pockets and watching them back out of the driveway. 

He hadn’t had time to go all the way back in the house when Steve pulled up. He had the uncanny feeling Grace had put him up to it, given the timing, though he had told Steve he wasn’t doing anything all weekend since Grace was going to be gone. He’d hoped that might lead to them spending a little time together, so however it came about, he was fine with it. 

“You had breakfast yet?” Steve asked.

“Nope. You buying?” he asked.

“I’m driving,” Steve said, as if that was somehow a substitute. Danny locked the front door and got into Steve’s truck. 

“So let me get this straight then. If we’re using my car, you should be paying for our lunches.”

“I always drive.”

“Yeah, my car.”

“I’m just saying, if I’m doing all the driving, you can buy.”

“Excuse me? That doesn’t even make sense. If you were using your vehicle and your gas, then it would make sense. But you drive my car fueled by my gas and you want me to pay all the time, too?” He looked over at Steve, who was barely suppressing a smirk. “Very funny. You should take your act on the road, Gallagher.”

“Sometimes you’re just too easy, Danno,” he said, laughing. Danny wasn’t sure if he felt warmed by that or wanted to punch Steve in the face. He often had those conflicted emotions. “I saw Rachel’s car pulling out.”

“Yeah, she’s taking Grace for the weekend so they can go on a trip to a cabin. Grace is bored just thinking about it. Can’t say I blame her. Where are we headed? Wait, don't tell me, boxed breakfast at Rainbow."

"That okay?"

"Sure, sounds great."

They ordered their food and sat in the truck eating it. The silence was relaxing; just sitting there with Steve while he gorged on the food like he hadn't eaten for days. Danny wasn't sure why he found that cute, since it was kind of disgusting sometimes. 

"You okay?" Steve asked, noticing Danny was falling behind with his eating speed.

"Yeah, fine. It's weird, but since I was sick, I just don't seem to be eating as much."

"Do you feel sick?"

"No," he said, shrugging. "I feel fine. I think I'm just afraid of pissing off my stomach again. It's like last night. Rachel sent another batch of chicken salad home with Grace. I guess she felt bad that I couldn't really enjoy the last batch since I was coming down with that flu. I couldn't make myself eat it, and I love that stuff. Or used to, anyway."

"More chicken salad from Rachel? Is this some new come-on?"

"No, nothing like that," Danny replied, snorting. "Besides...I've been down that road enough. Rachel and I aren't meant to be and when we keep trying it, we just keep hurting each other."

"You mean she keeps hurting you," Steve said, focusing on his breakfast again. Danny stared at him a moment. It was true. Maybe he felt less pathetic looking at it the other way. 

"Divorce is a game for two. Nobody gets out in one piece."

"Yeah, but you tell me how she got hurt in all this. Either time," Steve said, actually pausing in his eating process, which meant what he was saying was really important to him. 

"I don't know," Danny said, sighing. He looked out the window of the truck at the other people parked there, and walking in and out. Lots of couples, families... A male couple were sitting at a picnic table, laughing and talking and holding hands. He had most of that with Steve but he found himself jealous of them for the romance and intimacy they had that he didn't. 

"I'm sorry. I was out of line," Steve said.

"No, it's okay. You're probably right." Danny looked at Steve and he seemed to have noticed the couple Danny was staring at. He looked away, not saying anything else for a few minutes. 

"What do you wanna do today?" Steve finally asked through a mouthful.

"You don't have to babysit me. Contrary to what Grace thinks, I can entertain myself for one weekend."

"I'm not babysitting you. I thought maybe we could do something. Unless you have plans."

"No, no plans," he admitted. "What about Catherine?"

"She's not in town this weekend."

"Ah. Navy stuff."

"Yeah," Steve said, snorting, smiling. "Navy stuff."

"You wanna see a movie or something?"

"Sure. Maybe do a little fishing afterwards? Cook out later?"

"Works for me," Danny agreed. 

"I need to go to the grocery store, too. If we're gonna cook out, we're missing the food."

"I guess we were looking for something to do," Danny said, chuckling.

"I'm even out of toilet paper. I had an awkward moment stretching to reach tissues last night."

"Thanks for sharing. I already agreed to go to the store," Danny said, still laughing. "Besides, I need stuff, too, so we can get it all done at once."

********

After finishing their meal, they decided to get the grocery shopping out of the way while it was still early. Each armed with a grocery cart, they began navigating the aisles. The first couple aisles were uneventful, loading up on fruits and vegetables in the produce section, though Steve did watch with some fascination Danny's processes for evaluating and selecting the items that passed his inspection. No, Danny didn't just glance at it and add it to his cart if it looked okay. There was a firmness, a color, a size, and a shape that determined what was selected or rejected. He was similarly choosy in the cheese aisle, passing by the bagged brand name shredded mozzarella for the good stuff - the gourmet stuff you shredded or grated yourself to go on your pizza or other Italian dishes. 

"You on a cheese austerity diet?" Danny asked. Steve realized he'd spent so much time watching what Danny was doing that he hadn't bought any of the usual cheese items he needed.

"No, guess I missed some stuff," he said, backing up and throwing a few staple cheese items into his cart. Danny was now going through another agonizing process with the yogurt. "I never saw you eat yogurt before."

"Grace loves it. Or tells herself she does. To me it tastes like sour cream with fruit in it," he said, adding certain flavors in substantial quantities to his cart. 

"I could never put my finger on what I hated about it, but that's it," Steve said, laughing, taking a few whipped chocolate flavored containers off the shelf and putting them in his cart.

"You do realize that's not really much different than chocolate ice cream for sugar and calories, right?"

"Let me have my delusion, Danno."

"Grace didn't let me have mine," Danny countered, laughing.

"She polices your groceries pretty effectively, doesn't she?" Steve asked.

"Why do you think I shop on the weekends she's with her mother?"

"Solid plan," Steve agreed, nodding.

"She's always kind of glad when she falls off the perfect nutrition wagon that her unhealthy, junk food-eating father has replenished the supplies. It allows her to be a kid without compromising all her healthy eating principles."

Steve smiled at that as they started loading up on household supplies. 

"Don't forget your toilet paper," Danny said. 

"Thanks, I think I'll remember that," he replied, grinning. He watched Danny bypass the store brand detergent and put a bottle of Dawn in his cart. Steve grabbed one of the cheaper bottles. "This stuff works pretty well and it's cheaper."

"According to Grace, this one is better because it takes oil off wildlife affected by oil spills. So I guess if I have to unexpectedly wash a duck or something, I'll be better prepared with this one," he said, grinning. Steve laughed out loud at that.

"Next time an oily duck shows up on my porch, I'll bring him to your place."

"Gotta be prepared, that's all I'm saying," Danny replied, chuckling. When Steve picked out the cheap toilet paper, Danny seemed unable to remain silent. "That's not saving you any money."

"It's a buck cheaper than that stuff."

"And you have to use twice as much of it because it's so thin."

"I guess I don't think about toilet paper much."

"I watch a lot of TV late at night. Between those bears checking their asses for toilet paper pieces and that woman that goes around peddling ass wipes so people can go commando, I know a lot about hygiene products. Trust me."

"So you're basing this recommendation on animated bears?"

"More or less, but your toilet paper is cheap and lousy."

"Okay, fine, I'll buy better toilet paper," Steve took the name brand package off the shelf and added it to his cart. "Happy?"

"I will be, later, when I have to use the john at your house."

"You know, when you're out in the wilderness, you have to wipe your ass with leaves. Or not at all." Steve had been vehement about making that point until he saw the bizarre look it earned him from a woman passing them with a wiggling toddler in the cart. Danny was grinning evilly. 

"Next time we're going to the wilderness, I'll pack toilet paper. Problem solved," Danny said. 

After unloading groceries at both houses, they agreed on an action movie that was in its first weekend in theaters. At the concession counter, Steve ordered the large popcorn that came with the two drinks and paid for it. Danny had bought the tickets, after all. He couldn’t understand why Danny had this odd grin on his face as they headed into the theater.

“What?”

“You got us the couple’s deal,” he said, still grinning. Steve wasn’t sure if he was grinning because he thought Steve looked like an idiot or because he liked the idea. Steve liked the idea, but he wasn’t about to choose that moment to say that.

“It’s a better deal to get it this way and you get cheap refills on the popcorn. Why do we need two separate containers of popcorn?”

“We don’t,” Danny said, still with that annoying grin on his face. 

“So you’re worried what that kid at the cash register thought?”

“No, just making an observation,” Danny said as they found a comfortable spot near the back of the theater and settled in with their drinks and their notorious shared container of popcorn.

“We eat popcorn out of the same bowl when we watch movies at home.”

“Yeah, sure. It’s fine, Steve,” Danny said, getting comfortable. Steve thought it seemed as if Danny was leaning a bit into him. But then they usually did that at movies so they could keep up their own running commentary on things. The same reason they liked sitting in the back. 

The previews finally wrapped up and the theater went dark. In a move that wasn’t much smoother than it had been when he was sixteen, he shifted positions and ran his arm along the back of Danny’s seat. Danny’s only response to that was to yawn and eat more popcorn. Maybe their comfort level with each other was a little too high for their own good. He’d probably have to kiss Danny or grab his ass to get his point across, but that was fucking scary. Subtlety, however, wasn’t working. Or if it was, Danny was going to torture him until he moved to the next level. 

About halfway through the movie, Steve let his arm migrate down to Danny’s shoulders. He’d sat that way with him before when they were on the couch at his place, but not in public. Like he did on the couch, Danny moved a bit and made himself more comfortable, even closer to Steve. Now, a little smile curved Danny's mouth. That was all Steve needed, and he relaxed, smiling himself. This was turning out to be a better weekend than he expected.

********

When Steve made his move in the theater, Danny knew he'd read the signals right when Steve had been taking care of him during his bout with the flu. It was sweet, really...he hadn't had such a small, inoffensive little show of affection directed his way since he was a teenager. Steve was testing the waters, and it was time to let him know they were on the same page. 

The movie ended, and they headed back out to Steve's truck. 

"You want to head back to the house and do some fishing?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, maybe," Danny said. "Or we could find something else to do."

"I could probably think of something," Steve said, smiling as he drove toward the house. Danny thought he could detect a little hint of pink in Steve’s cheeks, which he found endearing and more than a little sexy. 

Danny wasn’t exactly prepared for Steve to move as fast as he did, but once things were rolling, he had no complaints. The moment they were inside the front door he found his back against it, Steve’s body against his, powerful arms around him he couldn’t have gotten away from if he tried, Steve’s mouth hot, wet, and urgent on his, kissing him like he couldn’t remember ever being kissed before. He always felt like Steve was a barely contained lethal weapon given his strength, agility, training, and generally insane willingness to try things that should, by all logic, kill him. And somehow they didn’t, so he would go back and try them again, only at a crazier level. 

This Steve was unleashed. The physical and emotional power was unrestrained and he was letting out something he’d obviously been holding back for a while. Danny could understand that. He’d been holding it back quite a long time, too. If he was a passive participant in this outburst of passion, it was his own damn fault, so he came to his senses and held Steve with all the intensity Steve was holding him, kissed back, and battled for dominance with his mouth, hands, and body. 

He shoved Steve’s shirt up but couldn’t get it off him because Steve wouldn’t cooperate with moving his arms, since he was too busy unzipping Danny’s pants. When their kiss broke momentarily, Danny gasped a few words, making what he considered an important point for Steve to consider.

“I’m not trying to get away, babe. Just let go a minute so I can get you naked.”

“I’m gonna get you naked first,” Steve replied, and then there was that adorable grin of his that was such a contrast to the wild animal that had pinned him to the door. 

“We’ll see,” Danny countered, pulling Steve’s shirt over his head and throwing it aside. As he started kissing and licking his way across Steve’s chest, his own shirt was ripped open, buttons flying. “What the hell...?” he asked, momentarily distracted.

“I’ll buy you two new ones, now shut up,” Steve said, kissing him again, pulling the remains of the shirt off his shoulders. Danny participated eagerly in the kiss, sticking his hand in Steve’s hair, his other arm around Steve’s back. He thrust against him, rubbing their still-clothed erections against each other, inspiring Steve to return to the project of getting Danny’s pants open while he kissed and sucked at Danny’s neck. “Fuck, you smell good,” he growled in Danny’s ear. 

“Remind me to do a testimonial for that cologne,” he quipped, unzipping Steve’s pants and sticking his hand in there, freeing Steve’s erection and stroking it. 

“Ugh,” Steve gasped eloquently against his neck. Danny knew how close he was himself, and Steve hadn’t even gotten his hand on him yet. Their chances of turning this into something complicated and poetic were looking slimmer by the moment. When Steve got a hold of Danny’s cock, that warm hand invading his underwear and stroking him, he knew they were destined to come like a couple of humping dogs right there by the door. When Steve grabbed his ass and squeezed while he was working his cock, Danny knew he’d been had. He shouted a couple of curses that were muffled by Steve’s chest, where Danny’s mouth happened to be at the moment, and barely kept his sanity long enough to keep stroking Steve until they were both coming, all over their bellies and their open pants, Danny feeling his sweat making his back slippery against Steve’s front door. 

“Holy shit,” Steve gasped, somehow managing to stay upright, holding Danny close while they just caught their breath a moment. 

“That was the best fucking sex I’ve had in years,” Danny replied, and they both laughed. “Your hand is still on my ass.”

“I’ve wanted to grab your ass since I met you. Let me enjoy the moment,” Steve said, punctuating that statement by squeezing Danny’s butt cheek. 

“Do you always move this fast after the arm maneuver in the movie theater?” he asked, running his hand up and down Steve’s back, kissing his chest. The muscles were like rock and the skin was like silk, dusted with just enough of that soft, springy dark chest hair. 

“No, just when I’ve been waiting almost three years to do it.”

Danny hesitated a bit, hoping he wasn’t going to ruin the best sex ever by making it emotional, but he still had to know. 

“I love you, babe,” he said quietly, talking to Steve’s chest instead of looking him in the eyes. 

“I love you, too, Danno,” he responded, getting his hand off Danny’s ass and holding him. “When I thought you might follow Grace to Vegas...”

“You told me to keep an open mind, like you were okay with it if I went.”

“There’s a lot of crime and corruption in Vegas,” Steve said, pulling back a little and looking into Danny’s eyes. “I’m sure I could find something to do there.”

“You were gonna follow me?”

“I was thinking pretty hard about it. If you wanted me to.”

“I always want you, Steven,” Danny said softly. For all the times he teased Steve or acted like he was such a burr under his saddle, he didn’t want to live without him, and he wanted to be sure Steve knew that. He suspected he had a pretty good idea, but just to be sure...

“Shower?” Steve asked, grinning. Now he looked like a little boy who just got away with something. 

“You just want an excuse to get me naked. Er. Naked-er,” he said, realizing he was shirtless and his pants were open. There wasn’t much left to the imagination.

“Sorry about the shirt,” Steve said, picking up the tattered garment. 

“Eh, it served its purpose,” Danny replied, laughing. “You’ll have to loan me a t-shirt and shorts or something to wear home.”

“You can just hang around here all day naked.” Steve sucked on the side of his neck.

“Gee, thanks. You rip my shirt and get come on my pants and then expect me to wander around like your naked love slave all day.”

“God, that’s a hot mental picture,” Steve said. His cock was starting to show signs of life again at that reference. 

“Let’s go take a shower and see what comes up,” Danny joked, kissing Steve one more time before leading the way upstairs. 

The shower was even more fun than being shoved against the door, though that had its merits. The soap and water made everything nice and slippery and gave them the perfect excuse to run their hands over every part of each other’s bodies. Not that Danny felt like he needed an excuse. Steve was excited - he was just about ready to go for round two before they got the water temperature adjusted - and Danny was exactly where he wanted to be, making love with exactly the person he wanted. He couldn’t remember the last time that happened, if it ever had. He’d loved Rachel but it was becoming clear to him she’d never loved him all that much, at least, not like he’d loved her, or they’d still be together. With Steve, he felt all the love and passion coming right back at him full force. 

His moments of introspection were cut short when Steve knelt in the tub, grabbed Danny’s ass, and started sucking him like a pro. 

“God, that’s good,” Danny mumbled, bracing himself on the tiles, the water pounding on his back, since his body was shielding Steve from the spray. He had the unsettling feeling Steve had done this before. Nobody could be that good at it the first time they tried it. He tried to think about that, to care about it, to kick himself for not tuning in to those signals sooner, to figure out how many of these blow jobs he’d missed over the years by being so fucking dense... None of it computed. When Steve started playing with his balls, he was done. He was gasping and shouting and cursing and coming, and Steve was drinking him down and managing his movements like a pro. Yes, Steve knew what he was doing, and Danny wanted to know who had been the beneficiary of all this talent before him.

That is, when he was able to think again, as he leaned against the tiles, breathing heavily, staring at Steve stupidly as Steve made sure they were both cleaned up again. Apparently, sucking him had made Steve come, too. If he hadn’t been drained, literally, and spent, that would have made Danny really hot.

They got out of the shower and dried off, and Steve just pulled Danny by the hand toward the bedroom, where they stretched out on the bed naked. Danny rolled toward Steve, putting his arm around Steve’s middle, head on his chest. Steve’s arms closed around him, holding him close. 

“My hair’s gonna look ridiculous when I get up,” he said, and enjoyed the rumble of Steve’s belly laugh at that.

“That’s the most significant thing you’ve gleaned from this experience?”

“Well, it’s true.”

“Then I’m touched by your willingness to endure such indignity for me,” Steve said, playing with a few damp strands of Danny’s hair. “You still want to do some fishing?”

“Yeah, in a while.”

“Okay, out with it. Something else is on your mind besides your hair.”

"What happened in the shower...was really...something."

Steve was quiet for some long moments before he responded. "I had a relationship in the Navy." He paused. "I've always been more attracted to men, but I haven't been with a lot of them. Not really something the Navy encourages."

"Who was it? Shit, tell me it wasn't Nick Taylor." Danny waited, and Steve bit his lip a moment, then shrugged. 

"Okay, I won't tell you."

"That fucking asshole!" Danny sat up, outraged. 

"I know you didn't like him from the start. I guess you're a better judge of character than I am."

"I want to kill that motherfucker.”

“I already did that, remember?” Steve replied, sighing. Danny looked at him, feeling like an asshole now. The betrayal and having to ultimately kill Taylor in self defense had to be harder on Steve than it could ever be on Danny. Harder even than having to kill an old friend, someone you trusted. But someone you slept with? He stretched out again and reclaimed his position in Steve’s arms. 

“I’m sorry, babe. It fucking sucks that you got hurt like that. How did it end with Taylor?”

“Life. Assignments. We got separated by all that, but I don’t really think it mattered. It wasn’t a long-term thing anyway.”

“Did you think...when he showed up here that you’d get back together?”

Steve was silent an even longer time this time around. “It wasn’t him I wanted by then,” he admitted quietly. Then he kissed Danny’s forehead. “Though it was sort of fun watching you get all jealous of him.”

“I wasn’t jealous.”

“You were jealous.”

“I didn’t like the guy, plain and simple.”

“Because you were jealous,” Steve repeated, chuckling. Danny wanted to gut-punch him, but he resisted the urge. Mainly because he was right. Steve was affectionate and enthusiastic when he saw Taylor and greeted him, and they had their own damn language that Danny couldn’t even follow.

“Okay, so maybe I wasn’t crazy about the whole secret language thing,” he conceded.

“I didn’t think you were interested in me at all until then.”

“I was. I’m just used to ignoring those feelings with guys,” Danny said. “I just made a decision at a point that life was easier dating women. I like women, too...a lot. So I just went with that and didn't let myself think too much about...other options. Maybe I wasn’t ready for all the complications of being labeled as gay. Not sure I am now, but it’s a little late to worry about that,” he added, snorting. 

“The complications aren’t what they used to be.”

“True. Just seems weird to think of people assuming I’m gay.”

“I suppose we don’t have to solve all that right now, before we go fishing,” Steve said. “I don’t care what they think I am, as long as they’re clear who I’m with.”

“Yeah, that kind of sums it up, doesn’t it?” Danny agreed, smiling and relaxing at that assessment. Really, what was a lifetime of stereotypes and preconceived notions compared to having a life and a future with Steve? “I’m sorry Nick was such a dick.”

“Nick the Dick, huh?”

“Beats warthog or whatever it was you called him.” Danny remembered perfectly well what Steve called him. Danny knew what he wanted to call him. Now he hated him even more. I wonder if you can dig someone up and kill them again?

“Bullfrog,” Steve replied, laughing.

“Oh, yeah, smooth dog. Now I remember. Do I even wanna know...?”

“Probably not.”

“Okay. Let’s go catch dinner,” Danny suggested.


	3. Tainted Love, Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny's bout with a strange illness ultimately brings Steve and Danny closer, until an unexpected crisis threatens their future. See Chapter One for Notes.

The afternoon was peaceful and pleasant, sitting on the shore with their fishing lines in the water. It was lucrative, too, yielding enough fish for a nice meal, paired up with a salad and seasoned rice they made to round out the menu. With nothing formal for dessert, they took a half gallon of ice cream and two spoons with them to the living room where they snuggled up on the couch and turned on the TV. 

"There's never enough peanut butter in this stuff," Steve complained, poking it with his spoon. It was chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream, but he apparently considered it light on the peanut butter.

"I'll let you know if I hit a rich vein of it," Danny replied, laughing. 

"It must be love. Most people would keep it for themselves," Steve joked, and Danny shrugged. 

"Hey, babe, I'd take a bullet for you. Sharing the peanut butter isn't that big a deal by comparison." Just then, Danny's phone rang. "It's Grace," he said, smiling, answering it. "Hey, monkey, how's the cabin?"

"It’s okay. The wi-fi keeps going in and out, though.”

“That’s not good,” Danny replied, chuckling. “Cell service is okay, though?”

“Not great, but I’ve got a couple bars. Are you with Uncle Steve?”

“Yeah, we’re watching TV at his place,” Danny replied.

“Hi, Gracie,” Steve said through a mouthful of ice cream. 

“The wi-fi isn’t good,” Danny updated Steve.

“It’s a cabin in the mountains,” Steve said, looking at Danny, stunned. “You should be out looking at mountains or something, Grace,” Steve said, joking. 

“I did. I’ve been taking pictures of everything but can’t live tweet anything.”

“I’m sorry you’re being exposed to such adverse conditions,” Steve replied. 

“Your mom’s still dropping you off home Sunday night, right?” Danny asked.

“She asked if it was okay if she took me to school Monday and I came home after that.”

“I guess,” Danny said, sighing. “Yeah, that’s fine.” There wasn’t enough difference between Sunday night and Monday morning to make an issue of it. 

“I have to go. Mom says it’s bedtime,” she said. Danny glanced at the clock. It had gotten later than he thought, but then he usually let Grace stay up a bit later than Rachel did. The Williams family were nocturnal creatures by nature. “Love you, Danno.”

“Love you, too, monkey. Have fun tomorrow,” he said, referring to the last day of her weekend trip.

“I will. Night, Daddy.” She hung up, and he did, too, setting the phone on the coffee table.

“Change of plans, huh?” Steve asked. 

“Yeah. Rachel wants to keep her over Sunday night, too. I guess it’s not a big difference. I wouldn’t have a lot of time with her anyway between her getting home and going to school in the morning.”

“But you were counting on seeing her tomorrow night,” Steve said.

“Rachel had her ask me because she knew I’d agree to it that way.”

“You did the best thing for Grace.”

“Yes, and Rachel knows I will, so that’s why she’s having her ask me to change the drop off time instead of asking me herself, because I would have told her no.”

“I’ll have to figure out something to keep your mind off it, then.”

“It just pisses me off, that’s all,” Danny said, then he realized what Steve was talking about and gave him a sideways look. “But feel free to distract me.”

********

The next day, they went back to Danny’s place. It was hot, humid, and raining off and on, a day that even Steve admitted was “not optimal beach weather.” Danny had decided to turn the negative of Grace being gone an extra day into a positive and surprise her by repainting her room. She still wanted it some shade of lavender, and Danny hadn’t quite gotten around to doing it since their schedules had been hectic and he hadn’t been living in the new rental house all that long. 

Steve didn’t mind spending the day in the air conditioning and out of the rain, and he was glad to help Danny with the painting project. He also hoped the extra night might give them some more time to explore the new dimension in their relationship. He had to admit, if only to himself, that spending the day watching Danny in a t-shirt and cutoffs painting, which meant bending, stretching, and reaching, was getting him interested in a lot more than hand jobs, or even another good blow job. He wasn’t sure how Danny would react or if he’d be willing to be...on the receiving end of things, but he was hopeful. 

The night before, they’d ended up naked on the floor in front of the couch, groping and humping and finally jerking each other off. He’d had that perfect ass in his hands a few times, but he wanted to sink into it to the hilt, to stake his claim, to make love to Danny that way. He felt his cock take an interest in the thought of Danny turning the tables on him and doing him instead. 

“You’re pitching a nice tent there, babe,” Danny said, grinning at him as he took a break from the painting. They were almost finished. Steve was glad. It would be just too weird to have Danny on all fours in Grace’s room, even if there was a tarp down, so getting him to another room of the house was going to be essential to achieving Steve’s goal. 

“Your ass looks good going up and down a ladder,” he said honestly. 

“You’re supposed to be paying attention to the paint job,” Danny replied, smiling, a little flush of color finding its way into his complexion that didn’t have much to do with the physical exertion. 

“The paint’s fine. Almost done.” He so wanted to walk over there, pluck Danny off the ladder, and carry him into the master bedroom and fuck him into next week. Somehow, he didn’t think carrying Danny anywhere would be a good idea if he wanted to get any, so he resisted the urge.

“Well, let’s get it all the way done. Then we’ll have the rest of the afternoon while it’s drying.”

Just then, Steve’s phone rang. 

“If that’s work, either don’t answer it or tell them we’re both sick,” Danny joked, rubbing his hand over the front of his shorts.

“You’re an asshole,” Steve said, laughing at Danny’s blatant tease. “It’s Catherine,” he said, and Danny’s hand immediately stopped its motion. 

“You better answer it.”

“Hey, Cath,” he said, still looking at Danny.

“Where are you? I’m back,” she said. “I was hoping we could spend some time together today.”

“I’m at Danny’s. We’re painting Grace’s room.”

“Oh, that’s sweet. I bet she’s excited.”

“She’s with Stan and Rachel this weekend, so Danny decided to surprise her. It’s very lavender,” he said. That made Danny smile, though it was half-hearted. “We’ll be working on it for a little while yet. How about dinner?” he asked. Danny didn’t look at him, but busied himself with the final strokes of the paint roller on the wall.

“Dinner’s great. I’ll make us something amazing,” she said, a smile in her voice. “If you get home soon, we might have time before dinner,” she said, a seductive tone to her words.

“I’ll probably get back about six or so.”

“Okay. See you then.” 

He tucked the phone in his pocket. “Danny--”

“Timing is everything,” he said, though the humor was half-hearted. “We better get this finished and cleaned up.”

“I’m gonna tell her about us.”

“Okay.”

“I mean it, Danny. That’s why I’m seeing her tonight. I know we were planning on having the evening, but I want to get this straightened out.” 

Danny was off the ladder now, the paint job itself finished. All that remained was the clean up and putting the furniture back in place.

“Once you tell her, there’s no turning back,” he said. “Well, maybe there would be, but I can’t see her wanting to start things up again after you leave her for me.”

“What about Gabby? She’s probably not gonna buy us a fruit basket and wish us well.”

“I care about Gabby, but let’s face it, I’m in second place after her career, and that’s okay. It’s just not a foundation to build a life on. She’s on an expedition right now. I’ll tell her when she gets back. I don’t think she’ll be that upset.”

“I would be.” Steve took Danny in his arms and held him. “I’d be upset if you dumped me.”

“Guess I’ll have to avoid doing that, then,” Danny said, returning the embrace, holding on tight. 

“Think Grace will be okay with it?” Steve asked.

“She loves you. Of course she will.” Danny paused, and then Steve could feel more than see his chuckle. “Rachel might be another story.”

“Why would she care?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I think she likes having me sort of worshiping her from afar.”

Steve had always had that same feeling about Rachel, but never voiced it to Danny. After all, Danny was, underneath it all, in love with Rachel even after their divorce, and she was Grace’s mother, so bad-mouthing her wasn’t something Steve indulged in much, even though he never had liked the way she treated Danny. Some women like to play around with a guy’s feelings, and she was a champion at that game when it came to Danny.

Steve moved back enough to touch Danny’s cheek and then kiss him. Really kiss him, long, deep, and with lots of tongue action. 

“I can probably clean this up by myself while you’re with Catherine.”

“Think so, huh?” Steve said, grinning, kissing him again. 

“Oh, yeah,” he said, sliding his hands under Steve’s t-shirt, running them up his back. 

“I want you like crazy,” Steve admitted, resting his hands on Danny’s hips and thrusting against him while they kissed again. 

“Come on. Bedroom,” he said, grabbing Steve’s hand and pulling him along to the master bedroom. 

As soon as they were in the bedroom, Danny took off his t-shirt and then his shorts. The fact he’d been running around commando in those shorts was almost enough to make Steve come right then and there, in addition to suddenly being confronted with a naked, eager, willing Danny. He quickly peeled his own tank shirt and shorts aside and rolled on the bed with Danny, kissing and groping and rubbing against each other. 

“When you said you wanted me, you had more than this in mind, right?” Danny said. 

“Yeah, a lot more,” Steve said, squeezing Danny’s ass, his fingers dangerously close to Danny’s crack. 

“There’s lube in the drawer.” 

Steve smiled widely at that, feeling like a kid who just got the best present under the tree. He reached in the drawer and pulled out a bottle. His eyes went wide. 

“You’re not fucking serious.”

“What?” Danny looked at the bottle.

“Slippery Kitty Sumptuous Strawberry?”

“Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t pick it out. It was Gabby’s idea.”

“It’s been used, Danny, so you were obviously on board with having sumptuous strawberry privates at some point.”

“She liked my dick better when it tasted like strawberries. You do what you gotta do,” he said, shrugging. 

“Does it work?”

“It’s slippery.”

“Close enough,” Steve said, though it seemed a little weird to have the aroma of strawberries in the air while he was rubbing his fingers up and down Danny’s crack. 

“You should let me know.”

“What?”

“If it tastes good.”

Steve grinned wickedly at that. “Only for product testing purposes,” he quipped, wishing he could spare time to pinch himself to figure out if he was dreaming. Not only was he writhing around naked on a bed with Danny, but Danny was getting on all fours now, apparently more than willing to let Steve live out his fantasy. 

He wouldn’t have needed strawberry lube to sweeten the deal, but it was as good an excuse as any to bury his face in Danny’s perfect round ass and tongue-fuck him until he was begging for the real thing. 

“Oh God,” Danny gasped, clutching the sheets. Steve could hear his little indrawn breaths and moans, and it just urged him on to make that slick little pucker his own, licking it, sucking on it, breaching it with his tongue. The strawberry gel did taste kind of like the sweet gooey stuff that holds the strawberries together on cheap strawberry shortcake. One of these days he was gonna do this to Danny when he didn’t taste like dessert. When he tasted only like himself. 

Getting some on his fingers, he eased one inside, past the tight muscle that guarded the entrance. He was getting nothing but good sounds out of Danny and some movement of his hips that was almost enough to send Steve over the edge before he ever got inside him. He reached under Danny and stroked him a few times, getting him harder, loving the way the attention to his cock had him moving his ass even more. He liked the soft, velvety skin of Danny’s balls, so he fondled them a bit, which made Danny drop from his hands to his elbows, opening himself even more. Steve slid a second finger inside carefully at first, taking it slow and gentle.

“You better do it or I’m gonna come before you get a chance,” Danny said, his voice strained and breathless. Steve put some pressure on Danny’s prostate and Danny let out a surprised shout at that. Withdrawing his fingers, Steve got himself ready, using plenty of the slippery stuff, and started slowly, carefully, pushing his way inside. He used all his self control to go slow, and to not come just from the feeling of Danny’s tight, slippery passage surrounding him. If that wasn’t enough to do him in, watching his cock sliding between those firm, round cheeks almost finished the job. 

So he closed his eyes for a moment. He made up his mind they were both going to enjoy this for a while, and he wasn’t going to set off the fireworks early by getting too sidetracked by visuals. 

“Nice and big,” Danny said, sounding a little strained. Steve wasn’t sure if that meant Danny had done this before and liked his partners big, or if he was stretched to his limits. 

“Everything okay, Danno?”

“Did I mention it was big?” he asked, seeming tense. Tension wasn’t going to be their friend, so Steve stroked Danny’s cock, kissed his back, and waited for him to breathe a little easier.

“First time?” Steve asked. He had to know, because he didn’t want to hurt Danny.

“Yeah. It’s good. Just...big.” Danny paused. “Now you’re gonna be impossible to live with, gloating about your giant dick.”

“My tongue is good, too, isn’t it?” Steve teased, and Danny chuckled at that, creating an interesting vibration. 

“Okay, you’re amazing. Best ever.”

“I’m the first ever.”

“There’s not gonna be anybody else in there to compare it to, so enjoy the title.”

“I will, sweetheart,” Steve said softly, kissing Danny’s back again before he started moving. Danny’s moans and mumbled curses sounded like pleasure, so he kept moving, picking up the pace until they had a nice, steady rhythm going. He didn’t cut loose as fast and hard as he had in his fantasies, but this was his real flesh and blood partner, the man he loved most, and being inside him was remarkable enough without taking a risk of hurting him. He wondered if Danny had any idea how many times Steve had watched him walk, watched him move, noticed the way his pants clung to his hot, perfect ass and had wanted to do this. 

He remembered then to pay more attention to Danny’s cock and his balls, making him shout even louder, making him ask for it harder, until he wrapped his arms around Danny’s chest and pulled him back so he was sitting on Steve, his back against Steve’s chest, his warm, sweaty thighs on Steve’s, a startled cry of surprise as the penetration went deeper in this position, while it brought them even closer so he could hold Danny while he moved inside him.

Steve knew he was getting close, so he concentrated more pressure on Danny’s prostate, more intense strokes to his cock, making him crazy until he was shouting and coming, the flexing of Danny’s internal muscles like an erotic massage on Steve’s cock that made him cry out Danny’s name and suck a tasty, soft spot on his neck while he came inside him.

Steve felt like collapsing, but he stayed upright, holding Danny, kissing and nibbling at the side of his warm neck, running his hands over Danny’s chest and belly, thinking he had just experienced for the first time the very best of what sex could be. With Danny, he could understand how it could become an obsession, something he couldn’t live without. 

Danny shifted a bit, and Steve loosened his hold enough to let him move, to break their connection and stretch out on the bed. Steve did the same, then gathered Danny in his arms and held him while they just caught their breath a few moments. 

“I’m not sure I can walk,” Danny said, but then he let out something that sounded a lot like a giggle, so Steve laughed, too. 

“I know my hugeness is hard for you to take.”

“That was it. I’m only human, Steven.”

“Everything okay?”

“Fuck, yeah,” Danny replied.

“God, it was good. So fucking good, Danny.” Steve ran his hand into Danny’s hair and kissed him. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, babe.”

“I can cancel dinner. Stay here with you.”

“Why don’t you go to dinner, take care of things, and then come back here?”

“You sure that’s okay?”

“Well, I did have plans with one of my other lovers, but I can rearrange things a bit.”

“No, let him come over. That way I’ll know where to find him so I can kill him in a jealous rage.”

“Possessive, huh?”

“I take possessive to a new level with you, Danno.” He stroked Danny’s back from his shoulder to his ass. “I should grab a shower and go.”

“It’s okay, babe. I’ll be here when you get back,” he said, pulling Steve down for a kiss. Steve rolled on top of him, kissing him for a long time before finally moving away. 

“You better be,” Steve replied, kissing the end of Danny’s nose before reluctantly getting up and heading for the shower.

********

Steve pulled up in his driveway and sat there a moment, taking a deep breath before turning off the engine and heading inside. Catherine was dressed in shorts and a tank top, and she emerged from the kitchen to greet him. Before he could say anything, she was kissing him. He managed to return it, but his heart wasn't in it, and she moved away fairly quickly. She didn't say anything. At least, not about that specifically.

"You showered at Danny's?" she asked. 

"Yeah, we got pretty sweaty," he said. Well, that part was true, but very little of it was because of the painting project. 

"And you used mouthwash, too?" she asked, frowning. He stared at her a moment, not sure what to say. I just finished licking strawberry lube off Danny's ass and figured you might not want to share that with me.

"Danny made pizza, with lots of garlic," he lied. He fully intended to tell her everything, but he wanted the chance to at least get all the way in the house first. It wasn't the kind of revelation you just shot out without warning. 

"If I didn't know where you were, I might suspect you of seeing someone else while I was out of town," she said, but the way she held his look made it seem like she was accusing him of just that. "I made fettuccini Alfredo," she said. "I hope you didn't have too much of that pizza," she said, returning to the kitchen to check on the meal.

"No, not very much," he said. "I thought you were going to be tied up all weekend."

"Well, I was, originally, but the assignment wrapped up earlier than we expected, so here I am. Dinner's almost ready," she said. Steve wanted to tell her right then, because the thought of wasting both their time on a romantic dinner when the romance was over seemed pointless. Still, she'd obviously worked hard to make the dinner, and if he hit her with the truth now, she'd leave without eating and that seemed discourteous. Unchivalrous.

He was about to dump his girlfriend of the last few years because he'd just had sex with his partner, and he was worried about courtesy. And dinner etiquette. He stood there leaning on the kitchen door frame until she finally stopped what she was doing and narrowed her eyes at him. 

“Steve, what’s going on? You’re acting really strange, even for you.”

He wasn’t sure what that last remark was supposed to mean, but he didn’t much care at this stage. It was all water under the bridge. 

“We need to talk.”

“That’s never a good line to hear,” she said, turning down the heat on the stove. “And it’s usually not quick and easy, so I’ll put the food on low,” she added, then turned to face him.

“There’s no easy way to say this. I’m...seeing someone else.”

“So you weren’t really at Danny’s today, were you?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“Yes, I was with Danny. Yesterday, too.”

“Really? Your new girlfriend had other plans, or was she along for the ride, too?”

“There’s no other girlfriend. I was with Danny.”

“No, wait, you’re not trying to tell me that you’re dumping me for Danny, are you?”

“I wouldn’t put it that way, but Danny’s the one I’m seeing.” Steve sighed and ran his hand back through his hair. “I’m doing more than ‘seeing’ him. I’m with him. We’re together.”

“You usually are,” she said. “Wow, I never would have guessed you were gay, Steve. You faked it real well. Although I have to say, there were times I wondered about you two. If you ever, you know, just kind of experimented or played around when you were drunk. Friends with benefits. I guess I should have listened to that little voice in my head that said, ‘this just isn’t adding up.’”

“We haven’t been friends with benefits, Cath. We’ve been friends, and I suppose I’ve been attracted to Danny pretty much from the get-go. I know I’ve been in love with him for a while, but I didn’t think it was ever gonna happen.”

“So you just sort of made do with the fallback plan?” she asked, pointing at herself. 

“No, I didn’t mean it that way.” You didn’t mean to say it, but that’s what you meant. That’s the truth. “You weren’t a fallback plan. I just didn’t think a relationship like this was an option with Danny, so I didn’t pursue it.”

“Seriously?” she asked, widening her eyes a bit. “He couldn’t be much more obvious the way he looks at you, flirts with you...and I wonder why he started wearing his clothes so tight I expect his buttons to pop off the next time he exhales? You really think that’s for Gabby’s benefit?”

“And why exactly are you concerned with how tight Danny’s clothes are?”

“The same reason you notice when some other woman’s boobs are hanging out of her top, even when you’re with me. You’re not blind. Neither am I. I’m not attracted to Danny but I certainly can tell when he’s pulling out all the stops to get someone’s attention. I don’t think Grace is buying him the $80 cologne, either.”

He does smell good. So fucking good...

“I guess I’m not very observant, then. Danny’s always dressed more formally than he had to for the job here on the Island, and he always smelled good to me, so I guess I didn’t notice any big change,” Steve said, and then he realized what he’d said. 

“Well, that sounded platonic.” She walked out of the kitchen toward the living room. Her overnight bag and purse were still sitting by the door. She picked up both items. “Why don’t you give Danny a call? There’s plenty of food there for both of you.”

“You don’t have to leave, Cath. We could still have dinner, talk-”

“Talk about what? No thanks, Steve. It’s been a long couple of days, and this day just got a hell of a lot longer, so I think I’ll go home.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you. Things just...shifted with Danny and when I realized he felt the same way I did...”

“Congratulations. I hope you two are very happy together,” she said, a heavy note of sarcasm in her tone as she strode out to her car. 

Steve thought of following her, of saying something more, but what was the point? She wasn’t wrong, and he was breaking up with her. So what would he say even if he ran after her and stopped her from driving off with a significant squeal of tires, like she was doing now?

********


	4. Tainted Love, Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny's bout with a strange illness ultimately brings Steve and Danny closer, until an unexpected crisis threatens their future. See Chapter One for Notes.

Danny got up about an hour after Steve left. He was tired in a really good way, and just lay there relaxing a bit before taking on the clean up job in Grace’s room. He pulled on his shorts and cleaned up the mess in there and moved everything back in place. Way overdue for a shower, he did that next. He was still a little sore, but it was nothing major. He’d always heard butt sex was a bit of a challenge, though he hadn’t been on the receiving end before. He never seemed to be intimate enough, long enough, with a woman to feel comfortable asking to do that to her, and the one time he suggested it to Rachel, she’d looked at him as if he’d sprouted a third eye in the middle of his forehead. He didn’t bring it up to her again.   
  
After changing into some fresh shorts, a tank shirt, and sandals, he went to the kitchen to figure out something to eat. He wasn’t sure when Steve would be back, or how much he’d eat while he was with Catherine. The sound of glass breaking got his attention. It sounded like it came from the attached carport.   
  
“What the fuck...” he muttered, hesitating before going out, something making him detour to the bedroom and get his gun before going out to investigate.   
  
He walked out the door into the carport and felt the impacts to his gut with the accompanying pops that he knew were gunshots. And he knew it wasn’t good. In the shadows of twilight, he saw a guy in a baseball cap, shorts and a t-shirt running down the driveway and, as he fell, clutching his bleeding abdomen with one hand, he opened fire in that direction until he heard a yelp and saw the other man stagger.   
  
“Gotcha, motherfucker,” he mumbled before everything went dark.   
  
********  
  
Steve pulled up to the curb in front of Danny’s place in time to see a dark red Buick sedan speeding away, zooming down the quiet residential street. He was about to get back in his truck and give chase when he glanced toward Danny’s carport and saw a crumpled figure on the cement next to the Camaro.   
  
“Danny!” he shouted, running up the driveway and kneeling next to Danny, who lay there motionless, bleeding heavily, his own gun nearby. “Danny, talk to me!” he shouted, easing him on his back and pulling up the soaked tank shirt to discover two bullet wounds in his mid-section. He pulled off his t-shirt and balled it up, holding it over the wounds to try to stem the flow of blood. He fumbled with his phone with his other bloody hand and called dispatch.   
  
“This is McGarrett, 5-0, I have a 10-13 officer down,” he shouted into the phone. He gave Danny’s address. “Get me an ambulance now! Two GSW’s to the abdomen, heavy bleeding. Suspect fled the scene in a dark red Buick LeSabre, probably ten years old, Hawaii plates.”  
  
He knew she responded, said something about all available units, that an ambulance was on the way, and that she’d made some shocked exclamation when she recognized Danny’s address.   
  
“Danno, talk to me, come on, buddy,” he urged, and Danny’s eyes fluttered open.   
  
“Perp...has at least one...bullet in him,” he managed.   
  
“It’s gonna be okay, Danny. You gotta hang on with me, okay? Keep talking to me,” Steve said, holding Danny’s hand with the one that wasn’t keeping pressure on the wounds.  
  
“It’s bad, Steven,” he said, looking Steve in the eyes. “Tell Gracie I love her, and take care of her for me, babe.”  
  
“You’re not going anywhere, damn it,” Steve said firmly. “You’re not leaving Grace, and you’re not leaving me.”  
  
“Don’t think this one is up to you,” he said, and Steve couldn’t believe how much love was in Danny’s expression considering the condition he was in. “Love you...man this...sucks. Sorry, babe. Didn’t...wanna...leave you.”  
  
“You’re not going to, Danny. You fucking hang on. Don’t you dare die on me, and don’t you leave Grace. I’m not telling her that her father’s dead, you got that? You can’t die. It’s not an option.”  
  
“Direct order?” Danny asked, and he actually smiled faintly, just before his eyelids fluttered and closed.   
  
“Danny!” Steve felt panicky, shaky, and like he was going to be sick. He couldn’t live without Danny. He’d suspected it for a long time now, but this convinced him. His guts were twisted in a knot and his dearest wish was to lie down on the cement next to Danny and die with him if he was gonna go.   
  
Sirens that had been in the distance were getting closer, a hoard of emergency responders were approaching like an army, led by paramedics, uniformed cops, Chin, and Kono. Steve finally let himself be peeled away from Danny by Chin, and stood to move away to let the paramedics do their job. Hysterical loved ones draped over critically wounded patients only jeopardized their chances for quick, effective care.  
  
“What happened?” Chin asked. Kono didn’t look much steadier than Steve felt as she watched the paramedics work on Danny with one hand over her mouth, as if the horror of it was just too much to take in. “Steve, stay with me,” he said, taking hold of Steve’s shoulders and giving him a quick shake.   
  
“We’ve got an APB out on a dark red LeSabre, but that’s about it,” Kono said, finally snapping out of the shock herself.  
  
“Danny said he hit him at least once. He must have returned fire...”  
  
There was a flurry of activity as one of the paramedics shouted, “We’re losing him!”   
  
Steve got back down on the ground not far from Danny’s head, trying to stay out of the paramedics’ way.  
  
“Don’t you leave Grace, Danno. You hear me? You don’t want her to lose you. You fight for your daughter. She needs you, Danny. You come back for Grace, you hear me. Gracie needs you. I need you. Don’t you leave us!” He kept up the litany of pleas, focusing most on Grace, saying her name as many times as he could.   
  
“I got a pulse,” one of the paramedics shouted. “Good job, Danny,” she said, using his name, trying to keep up what Steve started. “Your daughter’s going to be so glad to see you. You’re doing great.”   
  
“We gotta move. Now,” the other paramedic said. He was a man about Steve’s age with graying dark hair. He directed the others on moving Danny onto the gurney and making a run for the ambulance. Steve followed them, getting in the back of the ambulance. He wasn’t sure what Chin and Kono were doing, but he knew they’d process the scene and manage all the details he couldn’t think about while Danny lay bleeding in the back of the ambulance.   
  
Steve had gone through some losses in his life, but this one was unthinkable. Danny couldn’t leave Grace, but he couldn’t leave Steve, either. When there was a brief lull in the activity around Danny, Steve wiped his bloody hand on his shorts and took Danny’s hand. He got down close to him and whispered in his ear.  
  
“Don’t you dare leave me, Danny.” He swallowed, feeling tears burning behind his lids as he closed his eyes. “I don’t have a tomorrow without you, Danno,” he whispered against Danny’s ear. Amidst the smell of blood and antiseptic, there was a little hint of Danny. His cologne. Him. He inhaled that scent, trying to imprint it on his brain forever.  
  
********  
  
Steve felt like he’d been in the waiting room for hours, but he knew it wasn’t that long. He was pacing, going insane, knowing he should be working the case and yet not able to make himself go that far away from Danny. Within moments of arriving in the ER, Danny had been rushed into surgery.   
  
“Steve, what happened?” Doris was hurrying toward him, and he hugged her, knowing he was gladder than a full-grown man should be to see his mother.  
  
“It’s Danny...it’s really bad, Mom,” he told her in a broken voice. He hadn’t let himself face it and accept just how bad it was. The way Danny was bleeding, the blood he’d already lost...Steve had seen enough bullet wounds, blood, and death to know that Danny might very likely die no matter how many pep talks Steve gave him or how badly Danny wanted to hang on. For Grace or for him.  
  
“Chin said someone shot him in front of his house,” she said.  
  
“I pulled up to the curb and this car tore away from the curb. I was gonna chase it, pull the jerk over and bust him for reckless driving...and then I saw Danny on the ground. He’s got two bullet wounds in his gut,” he said, knowing his mother would grasp just how serious that was.  
  
“He’s still alive, though, still in surgery, right?”  
  
“Yeah, for now,” Steve said.   
  
“I left a message for Catherine. I thought she’d be here by now,” Doris said.  
  
“Don’t hold your breath,” Steve said. “I broke it off with her.”  
  
“What? Why?”  
  
“Because I’m in love with Danny,” he blurted, not caring how she took it or what she thought of it. He hated himself for ever even caring how anyone would think of them or accept their relationship. Danny was all that mattered and he knew that all too clearly at the moment.   
  
“You’re what? Honey, why didn’t you tell me you were gay? Did you think I wouldn’t accept it?”  
  
“Does it matter right now?” Steve asked. “I didn’t think Danny was interested, but he is, and we just got together this weekend.”  
  
“This weekend?”  
  
“Yeah, great timing, huh? Finally figure out who I want to spend my life with and...” Steve gestured in the general direction of the OR.   
  
“Spend your life...you want to marry him?” she asked, widening her eyes.   
  
“Yes, I want to marry him. I want to help him raise his daughter. I want to have a life with him. I want to get old with him. What I don’t want to do is live without him.”  
  
“What did the doctor say?”  
  
“Not much. There wasn’t time. They lost him once at the house, before they ever transported him.”  
  
“Come on, we’re going to go wash your hands and get some coffee,” she said, leading him down the hall, and he let her do it. She found a restroom in the hall and sent him in there to wash up while she got them some coffee.   
  
He stared at the blood swirling down the drain as he washed his hands, and something about it seemed wrong, as if he was washing the last traces of Danny off him. When he returned to the waiting room, Doris had coffee and handed him a cup.   
  
“Sit down. Pacing isn’t helping Danny any,” she said, and he sat down with her on the couch. There was one other tense-looking family sitting several feet away. A middle age couple and a teenage boy. If you’re in a surgical waiting room on a Sunday night, it’s not for something minor or elective. “How long have you...felt this way about Danny?” she asked quietly.  
  
“I was attracted to him as soon as I met him. But I didn’t think he’d be interested in me that way. Catherine seems to think I was missing a lot of obvious signals.”  
  
“I don’t understand, Steve. You were always popular with the girls in high school, and you never acted like you were interested in other boys,” she whispered.   
  
“I loved Dad, you know that, but how well do you think he’d have accepted that? Besides, by the time I really knew what I wanted, I was on my way to the Army-Navy Academy, and that’s not the place to start exploring your potential homosexuality. And you weren’t really around for me to tell.”  
  
“You know I regret that, Steve.”  
  
“I know. That’s not why I said it. It’s just a fact. When would I have told you? By the time I saw you again, a lot of time had gone by... I mean, I’ve had a couple relationships but they never...clicked like it does with Danny.”  
  
“I think he and I have a lot of work to do on our relationship, then,” she said, smiling.  
  
“Danny likes you.”  
  
“No he doesn’t. Not yet anyway. He doesn’t trust me because I hurt you. You don’t fully trust me, either, so how do you expect Danny to?”  
  
“That’s gonna take some time, Mom. I just hope we have it,” he said, taking another drink of his coffee. “I know you like Catherine.”  
  
“Of course, I like her. But if Danny’s the one you want, the person you want to spend your life with, I guess I’ll just have to get to know him a little better and see if we can get off to a better start than we did the first time around.”  
  
“Thanks for coming,” he said, taking her hand.   
  
“I used to be pretty good at the whole mom thing. I’m trying to get back in practice.”  
  
“You are, huh?” he asked, smiling faintly. He felt shattered, broken, and like the world had stopped turning, but Doris’s presence was making the waiting a little easier.  
  
“You know, I respect Danny. He’s a worthy adversary.”  
  
“He’s not your adversary.”  
  
“What I mean is,” she said, chuckling, “that Danny was never falsely courteous to me, and he was on the offensive from the moment we first met, because he was defending you. Protecting you from me. Everyone else in your life has been so polite, and no one has brought up the inelegant fact that I disappeared from your life and let you think I was dead for twenty years. No one except Danny.” She squeezed Steve’s hand. “Of all the people in your life, including Catherine, it’s obvious he’s the one who loves you the most. It’s not that you need my blessing or even my opinion on who you spend your life with, Steve. But for what it’s worth? I think Danny’s a keeper, and you made a good choice.”  
  
“I just hope I have a chance to keep him,” Steve muttered, swallowing.   
  
“Have you called Grace?”  
  
“I tried calling Rachel, but they’re at a cabin in the mountains this weekend. I don’t know if they even have decent cell reception at the moment. Grace was complaining about the wi-fi and the poor cell signal when she called Danny last night. I left a voicemail. I’ll try again later. They should be back in town pretty soon   
  
********  
  
Chin and Kono had supervised the processing of the crime scene, the collection of shell casings, and the crime lab tech’s assessment of the skid marks left behind by the fleeing car. Several neighbors had seen the commotion once Steve arrived and emergency personnel were swarming the area, but no one had seen the actual shooting.   
  
Their best clue so far was a broken beer bottle that had hit the Camaro and shattered, the pieces on the car and the cement. There were drops of blood on the driveway presumably left by the shooter that were rushed to the lab for emergency processing.   
  
“Any word yet from Steve?” Kono asked Chin as they got in the car to head over to the hospital.   
  
“All he knew was that Danny was in surgery. I haven’t heard anything more since then.” Chin started up the car and pulled away from the curb in front of Danny’s house. “I’ve tried to call Rachel. Steve couldn’t reach her, either. I really don’t want Grace to get dropped off there with crime scene tape and her father’s blood on the cement.”  
  
“We need to think about the fact that if someone just walked up to Danny and shot him, he might not be the only target.”  
  
“I thought about that. I’ve sent a security detail over to the hospital. Two really good cops. I told them to keep an eye on Steve as well as Danny. When Steve’s more focused, he won’t need security, but right now, he’s not on alert.”  
  
“Yeah, well, Doris is with him. She will be,” Kono said, smiling.   
  
“I keep forgetting his mother is a secret agent,” Chin replied, shaking his head.   
  
“You knew Doris back in the day. Did you have any idea she was into anything shady?”  
  
“Nope. She was a schoolteacher and she was involved in PTA stuff for Steve and Mary...she was John’s wife...nothing that seemed out of the ordinary.”  
  
“I overheard one of the EMT’s say they thought Steve was Danny’s boyfriend.”  
  
“Understandable mistake, I guess.”  
  
“Is it?”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Steve was pretty freaked out.”  
  
“You remember when Danny was exposed to the sarin? Steve was focused on one thing, and that was Danny. Even back then. They’ve always been close.”  
  
“I guess.”   
  
“That wasn’t convincing,” Chin said, giving her a knowing look.  
  
“I’m just not sure I buy the idea that they’ve never been more than friends, that’s all.”  
  
“I’ve never wanted to dig too deep into what makes those two tick. I just let them have their space.”  
  
“Would it bother you if they were together like that?”  
  
“No, but if they’re not, do you wanna be the one to ask Steve about it?”  
  
“Not particularly, no,” she admitted, smiling, then her smile faded. “There was a lot of blood back there.”  
  
“Yeah, I know. Gut wounds bleed like crazy.”  
  
“They’re often fatal, too,” she added. “This is going to be so hard for Grace, if Danny doesn’t pull through this.”  
  
“I’m not so sure I want to deal with Steve if Danny doesn’t pull through this.”  
  
“The shooter had to be pretty gutsy, just walking up the driveway and shooting.”  
  
“He didn’t plan on Danny returning fire, obviously. You’d think he’d be prepared for that, with Danny being a cop.”  
  
“Makes you wonder.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Well, we’re assuming he knew Danny was a cop, and I think the logical theory is that it’s related to that, but maybe it isn’t.”  
  
“Just a random nut shows up and shoots a stranger in his carport on a Sunday night?”  
  
“Weirder crimes have happened.”  
  
“Not many, but I’ll give you that.”  
  
********  
  
When the doctor walked into the waiting room, dressed in scrubs, Steve wasn’t sure he wanted to hear what she had to say. She was a petite, older native Hawaiian with graying black hair and glasses. He exhaled a little when she smiled.  
  
“Daniel Williams’ family?” she asked.  
  
“Yes, how is he?” Steve asked, hoping her expression was a positive sign.   
  
“He is very strong,” she said, still smiling, then she became more serious. “The surgery was difficult, and we had a lot of trouble stabilizing his blood pressure. He has lost a lot of blood, and I am not going to sugar coat this. We are not out of the woods yet. I still consider his condition critical, at least for the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours. I removed one bullet. One passed through, exiting his back, causing tissue and muscle damage but did not hit any vital organs. He is very lucky it missed his kidney. The second bullet nicked his liver, which required me to remove a portion of that organ. The good news is that the liver is the only organ in the body that can re-grow itself, so assuming he makes it successfully through the next couple days, and his blood pressure and vitals remain stable, he should be okay.”  
  
“How much danger is he in?” Steve asked.  
  
“His blood pressure is stable now, and he’s breathing on his own, so I’m optimistic. You do need to be prepared that something could still happen. It would be a good idea for any family to be notified as soon as possible.”  
  
Steve sat down again. He knew it was probably discourteous, but he also didn’t want to faint or collapse, and his legs didn’t feel steady. Danny could still die, and there was obviously a pretty high risk of that if the doctor was telling him to call Danny’s family.  
  
“I’m trying to reach his ex-wife to get his daughter here.”  
  
“Any other relatives?”  
  
“Everybody else is in New Jersey,” Steve said.  
  
“Probably best for them to make the trip to visit him when he’s stronger,” she said. Steve knew that meant wait and see if he lives, and he felt his stomach flip.   
  
“When can I see him?”  
  
“He’s in recovery. I’ve already spoken with your officers who are here to provide him with security, and they are positioned outside the recovery room. As soon as we’re ready to move him to a room in ICU, I’ll be sure you’re notified. I’m not going to limit your time with him, but he is very weak, so it’s fine to let him know you’re there, but please let him rest most of the time.”  
  
“Thank you, Doctor,” Steve said. After she left, Doris sat next to him and put her arm around him.  
  
“You have to think good thoughts. He’s fighting to stay with you and Grace.”  
  
“I know. I just hope it’s enough.” Steve sighed.   
  
********  
  
It was a while before Steve was able to see Danny, so he occupied himself meeting the cops Chin had sent over to provide security and checking out the facilities to make sure Danny was safe in the recovery room. He caught a glimpse of Danny while he did that, but he didn’t abuse his privilege to look in the room by approaching him or interfering with the medical personnel. The cops guarding the door had checked their ID badges and had a roster of all employees on duty with access to that area.  
  
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Danny was en route to a private room in ICU. He was pale and still, which was so unlike Danny that it was even more unsettling than it would be for someone who was normally not “in motion” the way Danny always was. Steve and the two police officers escorted Danny and the two nurses moving him and waited outside until he was settled in the room. Once Steve was alone with him, with just the beep and hum of the machines monitoring his heartbeat and respiration in the background, he wasn’t sure what to say or do. Danny seemed so fragile and his condition so tenuous that Steve was afraid to touch him or say anything that might cause him stress.  
  
After standing there a few minutes and saying and doing nothing but staring at Danny, he finally went with his instincts and took his hand, and leaned over and kissed his cheek. He touched Danny’s hair gently and whispered in his ear.   
  
“I love you, Danno. Everything’s gonna be okay, sweetheart. Grace will be here soon to see you, so you need to rest and get well for her.” He kissed Danny’s forehead. “For me, too, because I need you with me, Danno. I’m gonna be quiet and let you rest, but I’m right here, and you’re safe, and everything’s okay.”   
  
He stepped outside Danny’s room to talk to Chin and Kono, who were waiting outside with Doris.   
  
“Any word from Rachel yet?” he asked.  
  
“She just called me back,” Chin said. “They’re back in town and she’s on her way over with Grace.”  
  
“Good. It’ll be good for him to hear her voice. Update me.”  
  
“We found three shell casings at the scene that didn’t come from Danny’s gun,” Kono said. “He got off quite a few shots when he fired at the perp, and the lab is analyzing blood drops from the driveway for DNA profiles. We don’t have ballistics back on the shell casings yet, but I’m about to go see Charlie and make sure all the evidence we sent over is being processed ASAP.”  
  
“There was a broken beer bottle in the garage - looks like it hit the Camaro and left shards on the floor and the hood of the car. Probably a ruse to get Danny to come outside,” Chin said. “It almost seems like the shooter wasn’t prepared for the possibility of Danny being armed. Most cops would take their weapon to investigate something that sounded like a potential break in, either to the house or the car.”  
  
“Seems sloppy,” Steve said. “Not a professional hit.”  
  
“If our shooter was really good at what he does, I don’t think Danny would have survived,” Chin said. “Judging by where the blood was on the driveway, he couldn’t have been far away when he shot Danny, and yet he didn’t go for the head or chest, which are more likely kill shots.”  
  
“Or he did and his aim is lousy and he was panicking and losing his nerve,” Steve said. “Check all our Five-0 cases with recently paroled or released offenders. They’re always the first suspects in a situation like this.”  
  
“We have HPD pulling all those records right now,” Kono said. “We also have to watch our backs, in case it is a vendetta with Five-0 and not just Danny.”  
  
“We need a unit on Grace, too.”  
  
“It’s already done,” Chin said. He'd no sooner said that than Rachel and Grace appeared in the hall, Grace breaking into a run when she saw Steve. She ended up with her arms around him, hanging on.  
  
"What happened to Danno, Uncle Steve? Is he okay?" she asked, stepping back.  
  
"He's doing better now, Gracie. He was shot, but the doctor took out the bullets and fixed the damage. He's very tired and still needs a lot of rest, so we need to do short visits. He's hurt right here," Steve said, showing her on his own body where Danny's bullet wounds had been. "So if you hug him, you can hug up by his neck, or give him a kiss, but be careful not to press right here, okay?"  
  
"Okay," she said, nodding.  
  
"He's sleeping very deeply right now, so he probably won't answer you, but that doesn't mean he can't hear you."  
  
"Okay, Uncle Steve," she replied.   
  
"Do you want to go in with her?" Steve asked Rachel.  
  
"Why don't you? I don't want to upset him."  
  
"Okay. Come on, Grace." He took Grace's hand and they went into Danny's room and approached the bed.  
  
"Uncle Steve?" she whispered.  
  
"What, honey?"  
  
"Is Danno gonna die?"  
  
"No, kiddo, he's gonna get better. He's just resting. His body needs to heal, but he'll be okay."  _Dear God, I hope he is. He has to be. He's the glue that holds us together._  
  
She went up to the bed and took Danny's hand and talked to him, told him how much she loved him and that she wanted him to get well. If Danny didn’t pull through this, Steve wondered exactly how he’d keep his promise to look after Grace. It would probably take Stan and Rachel all of a few weeks to pull up stakes and move to Vegas, and he doubted he’d have a high spot on the visitation list.


	5. Tainted Love, Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny's bout with a strange illness ultimately brings Steve and Danny closer, until an unexpected crisis threatens their future. See Chapter One for Notes.

“How bad is it really?” Rachel asked as she stood outside Danny’s room with Chin, Kono, and Doris.   
  
“It’s serious,” Chin said. “Steve said the doctor was ‘optimistic’ but that the next day or two would be crucial. They had problems stabilizing him because of the blood loss.”  
  
“How awful,” Rachel replied.  
  
“Are you sure you don’t want to look in on him?” Doris asked.   
  
“I don’t want to bombard him. It’s most important that Grace sees her father.”  
  
“Of course,” Doris replied, smiling. Chin found the exchange between the two women a bit interesting. Rachel seemed uneasy, and Doris seemed to be homing in on that. “Steve said you were traveling this weekend?”  
  
“Just a weekend in the mountains. Cell reception wasn’t very reliable until we got closer to town again,” she said. “I came as soon as I was able to access my voice mails.”  
  
“Is Stan still pursuing his projects in Vegas?” Kono asked.  
  
“Yes, they’re in the planning stages for a new luxury hotel there, and his company is also involved with a new residential development.”   
  
“That’ll be a lot of commuting for Stan,” Kono commented.  
  
“He’ll most likely get an apartment there and divide his time between here and there.”  
  
“Difficult to still have an ex-husband factoring into those decisions, isn’t it?” Doris asked, still smiling.  
  
“The custody ruling threw us a bit, but we’ll work around it. Doing what’s best for Grace is most important,” she said. “Of course, with Stan gone so much, Grace is near her father but Charlie will be missing a lot of time with his father.”  
  
“How is Charlie?” Chin asked.  
  
“Oh, he’s wonderful. Just started walking so he’s into everything. Stan is having some dad time with him now while I’m here with Grace. He’s a wonderful father,” she added.   
  
“Your kids are lucky,” Kono said. “They both have great dads, then.”  
  
“Yes, that is lucky,” Rachel said, though the smile didn’t quite light up her face. It looked more like the adult version of a baby having gas.   
  
Steve and Grace came out of Danny’s room then, and both of them looked grim. Danny was still unconscious, but the lingering effects of the anesthesia and the weakness from the blood loss made that somewhat expected.   
  
“Come along, Grace, we should be going home now.”  
  
“I want to stay here, with Danno,” she said, looking back at Steve as if she wanted him to back her up somehow.  
  
“I’ll be here all night,” Steve said to Grace. “I promise I’ll keep a close watch on Danno and call you if he wakes up, okay?”  
  
“Will you tell him I was here?”   
  
“I sure will, Gracie, but I bet he knows, anyway.”   
  
“Okay,” she finally agreed, though she wasn’t pleased with the outcome. She hugged Steve and said goodbye to the others and dejectedly walked along by Rachel’s side as they headed toward the exit.   
  
“She’s the one he’s still carrying the torch for?” Doris asked, looking at Steve.  
  
“That’s Rachel,” he replied.  
  
“Oh, dear,” she said, rolling her eyes.  
  
“Stan’s a wonderful father,” Kono informed Steve.  
  
“You two have something on your minds?” Chin asked. Kono had always gotten along well with Rachel, although none of them thought much of how she’d treated Danny during the whole temporary reconciliation and baby paternity debacle.   
  
“Danny sure is an inconvenience for her at this point,” Doris said.  
  
“They’ve been fighting over custody of Grace since the first day I met Danny,” Steve said. Then he frowned. “You think she had something to do with this?”  
  
“Spouses and ex's are always prime suspects,” Chin replied, shrugging. “Danny is throwing a monkey wrench into their plans with the custody decision. Still...I can’t believe Rachel would have anything to do with something like this.”  
  
“She and Stan were both out of town all weekend, and whoever shot Danny seemed like a rank amateur, not a pro - not someone for hire,” Kono said.  
  
“It’s only on TV that it’s so easy to hire a professional mechanic,” Doris said. “They typically don’t advertise on Craigslist.”  
  
“Hit man,” Steve corrected.   
  
“We know,” Kono replied.  
  
“I was thinking of Danny. He’s not a fan of secret agent lingo,” Steve said, smiling. “I’m gonna sit with him a while. Mom, if you want to go home, I’m fine here. I’m gonna stay with Danny until he wakes up.”  
  
“I can swing by your place and grab you a change of clothes, and then I’ll head home,” she offered.  
  
“Yeah, that’d be great,” he agreed. He’d gotten a scrub shirt from a helpful nurse’s aide to replace his bloody t-shirt before Grace showed up, but the thought of some clean, normal clothes sounded good.  
  
********  
  
“What have you got for us, Charlie?” Kono asked. Charlie Fong had pulled an all-nighter, along with other analysts at the lab, going over the evidence gathered at the scene of the shooting.  
  
“The DNA around the opening of the beer bottle matches the blood on the driveway, so I think it’s a good bet the partial print we found on one of the shards of the bottle belongs to the same subject. Obviously, he doesn’t watch CSI. This guy is sloppy.”  
  
“He probably didn’t expect to get shot and bleed on the driveway,” Kono said.  
  
“Maybe not, but a pair of gloves and using a bottle you hadn’t handled and drunk from yourself might have been helpful,” he quipped. “I’m running the DNA profile and the partial print right now to see if we have anything in the database. The gun was nothing out of the ordinary - a .38 revolver. He fired at Danny three times, hitting him twice. We did find the bullet that passed through Danny as well as another one lodged in the wall of the carport.”  
  
“Call me as soon as you get a hit on the prints or the DNA, okay?”  
  
“I figured McGarrett would be on this one personally.”  
  
“He’s with Danny at the hospital. He made it through surgery but there still aren’t any guarantees.”  
  
“Let me know when you hear something.”  
  
“I will.”  
  
“Oh, hang on,” Charlie said, moving to another computer monitor. “We’ve got a hit on the DNA.”  
  
Kono looked over his shoulder at the screen. The image of a disheveled looking middle aged man with brown hair and a couple days’ beard growth stared back at them.   
  
“Byron Shemanski,” she read. “Nothing on that rap sheet coming close to murder, although he was involved in an armed robbery ten years ago,” she commented, reading through his offenses. “Send that to Chin, will you? He’s back at HQ running checks on people associated with Danny and some of our old cases. We’ll see if this guy has ties to anyone.”  
  
********  
  
Steve gulped the bitter, badly brewed coffee he’d gotten from the cafeteria and rubbed the back of his neck. Danny was still motionless in the bed. His vital signs had remained stable through the night, but he’d shown no signs of waking and hadn’t responded to any of Steve’s attempts to get him to squeeze his hand or open his eyes. He really didn’t do much of that, since the doctor said Danny needed rest. He didn’t want to stress him out if he was in that haze between consciousness and unconsciousness. Still, the longer he was out, the more nervous Steve got about his chances.   
  
He finally resumed his vigil in the chair by Danny’s bed and took his hand.   
  
“It’s morning, Danno. Grace’ll be up again after school to see you. It’d be real nice if you were awake and could talk to her. She misses her dad,” he said. Then he kissed Danny’s hand and held it in both of his. “I miss you, too, buddy. It’s just too fucking quiet without you talking to me,” he said, wondering how long he could live like this, in this deafening silence, without the sound of Danny’s voice.  
  
“Steve.”   
  
The word was tiny, barely audible, more like a breath that a crazy person might interpret as a spoken word after waiting too long to hear one. But then Danny’s hand moved, twitched a bit in his grip.   
  
“Danny? Hey, buddy, is that you?” he asked, standing and leaning over Danny.   
  
“Steve,” he repeated, with more strength and clarity this time.   
  
“I’m right here, Danno,” Steve replied, smiling, not sure if he wanted to laugh or cry or some insane combination of the two. Danny opened his eyes, blinked a couple times, and focused on Steve.   
  
“Hey,” he muttered, his voice sounding gravelly.   
  
“Hey, yourself,” Steve said, very carefully kissing Danny’s slightly parted lips. That earned him a smile. “How’re you doin’?”  
  
“Good now,” he said, his voice sounding a little stronger. “What happened?”  
  
“Do you remember anything?”  
  
“I remember you, babe,” he said, winking at Steve.  
  
“Good answer, Danno.”  
  
“Glass broke...I remember some asshole shooting me.”  
  
“Then you know the important stuff.”  
  
“Hurts,” he mumbled.  
  
“I’ll get the nurse.”  
  
“Where’s Grace? Is she okay?”  
  
“She’s fine. It’s about nine in the morning, so she’s in school now. She’ll be up to see you later.”  
  
“You find the shooter?”  
  
“Not yet. We’re on it, sweetheart. Don’t worry about it.”  
  
“Grace...”  
  
“We have a protective detail on her, and here at the hospital, just in case. She wanted me to be sure to tell you she was here last night. She wanted to stay with you.”  
  
“Rachel said no.”  
  
“You guessed it.”  
  
“Knee hurts.”  
  
“Maybe you twisted it when you fell.”  
  
“Spent too much time on it,” he said, giving Steve a wicked little smile.  
  
“You remember that, huh?”  
  
“Vividly.”  
  
“I love you, Danno.” Steve knew he was tearing up and didn’t care. Danny reached up feebly and touched his cheek.  
  
“I’m gonna be okay.”   
  
Steve put his head on Danny’s shoulder a moment and gave in to the relief, letting the feeling of Danny’s hand on the back of his head calm him and reassure him.   
  
“Love you, babe. Not going anywhere.” The words sounded like an effort, and Steve moved away and took Danny’s hand, holding onto it.  
  
“Rest. I’m gonna see about getting you something for pain. We’re on top of things and we’re looking out for Grace’s safety, so don’t worry, okay?”  
  
“Okay, SuperSEAL,” he mumbled, grinning faintly.   
  
********  
  
As soon as Steve notified the nurse that Danny was awake, she went in to check his vital signs and also paged the doctor, who was currently doing her rounds. He waited outside while they checked Danny’s incision and his catheter. He knew how weak Danny was because otherwise, he would have been bombarded with vocal and forceful complaints about that. It was only a matter of time now, and the thought of fielding Danny’s many grievances with his hospital stay and recovery made Steve smile. He was about to call Chin when he ran into him in the hall.   
  
“Things must be going well,” Chin said, and Steve smiled wider at that. He supposed he looked a little goofy walking around with a big smile on his face, but he didn’t care.  
  
“He’s awake. Still pretty weak yet, but he’s fine. Talking and coherent.”  
  
“Great. What does the doctor say?”  
  
“She’s with him now. What’ve you got?”  
  
“Our shooter,” Chin said, showing Steve a photo of Shemanski. “He’s got a rap sheet a mile long, but it’s mostly minor stuff except for an armed robbery about ten years ago. He’s been in and out of Halawa, and his employment history is pretty spotty until the last two years, when he’s been working for Blue Water Construction. It’s a subsidiary of Edwards Development, Incorporated.”  
  
“Stan’s company?”  
  
“Right. But Stan’s company has a number of subsidiaries in areas related to real estate and development, and the degrees of separation between Stan and this guy are significant. It’s not like they’re going to run into each other at the water cooler.”  
  
“We don’t have this loser in custody yet, right?”  
  
“The whole HPD is on the lookout for him. We’re combing every inch of this island for any sign of him or his car. He used a beer bottle he drank from - with his DNA and a partial print on it - to make the noise to get Danny outside. He’s not exactly a criminal mastermind, so he shouldn’t be hard to find.”  
  
“Why would this guy come after Danny at his home, on a Sunday night, and try to kill him? The only tie to Danny that we know of is Stan. I want to lean on this piece of crap first, see what we can get him to give up, before we let Stan know we’re onto him.”  
  
“The connection to Stan’s construction company may not be the tie to Danny. Stan has a lot of guys working for a lot of subsidiaries.”  
  
“Danny’s in Stan’s way. He’s fucking up his life and his business deals by keeping Grace in Hawaii, at least most of the time. Stan’s got a motive that ties into money and his family life. We’re gonna turn that asshole upside down and shake him until the truth comes out.”  
  
“A guy like Stan is gonna lawyer up.”  
  
“If I find out he almost killed Danny, there’s not a fucking lawyer in the world that’s gonna save his ass.”  
  
********  
  
It didn’t take long to track down Shemanski. He was hiding out at his mother’s house, and it was likely the elderly woman wasn’t even aware that her son was into something shady - again. Steve used every technique for controlling his temper and his aggression that he’d ever learned in his life or in the Navy when he walked into the interrogation room, Chin by his side, to question the man who’d nearly killed Danny. Shemanski was just sitting there, pale and sweaty, probably infection setting in to the flesh wound on his leg that he’d been tending himself, and apparently not too effectively. He was just an ordinary, small-time crook. Why he’d ever shot a cop in cold blood in front of his own house was hard to fathom, unless it was tied to Stan. Nothing in his criminal record would predict that kind of a crime, and he had no other known connection to Danny.   
  
“I’m gonna save you a lot of time and energy,” Steve said. “We know you shot Detective Williams, and we’ve got a pretty good idea of why. Your DNA is all over the crime scene, and you even left us a fingerprint. We haven’t found the gun yet,” Steve said. “That would be a nice loose end to tie up, but it’s not essential. I’m gonna offer you one shot at a possible deal, in return for the truth about why you did this and your rich buddy who put you up to it. Keep in mind, he can afford a hell of a lot better lawyer than you can.”  
  
“I’m not saying a word. I know my rights.”  
  
“You do realize it’s gonna take Stan Edwards all of a few seconds to hang you out to dry, right?” Steve asked. “You’re a small-time loser. What we call the ‘fall guy’ who’ll do the time while he goes on driving around in his Mercedes and living in his mansion.”  
  
“If I say I want a lawyer, you gotta stop asking me questions. I want a lawyer.”  
  
“He wants a lawyer.” Steve looked at Chin, smiling. Then he handed Chin his badge. “Hang onto this a minute, will ya?”   
  
“Sure thing, boss.” Chin took it and then turned his back. Shemanski watched Steve, wide-eyed, as he approached him, then used one leg to push Shemanski’s injured leg back at a painful angle that made him gasp and gripped his neck, digging his fingers in at just the right pressure points to nearly cut off his oxygen.   
  
“You shot my partner.”  
  
“You can’t ask me more questions,” he croaked.  
  
“Did you hear a question? I’m not asking any questions, and I’m not offering any deals. At least, not the kind of deal you might’ve gotten a few minutes ago. Here’s the deal now. You tell me what I wanna know, and I might let you out of here before gangrene sets in that leg and it has to be cut off. I’d say probably just above the knee.”  
  
“You can’t hold me without charging me.”  
  
“I can for 72 hours, pal, and that’s assuming I play this by the book. There are no cameras in here. I’m head of the Five-0 task force. I can do whatever the fuck I please to you and figure out a way to get away with it.” Steve took out his gun and pressed it against Shemanski’s forehead. He knew Chin was moving closer, getting nervous. That was good. Shemanski could see that, too. He increased the pressure on the prisoner’s leg until he croaked out a cry of pain. “I oughtta put a bullet right through your brain for shooting a cop down like a dog in his own driveway.” Steve released the safety on the gun. “It’d be a fucking shame if you got loose from your restraints and went for Lieutenant Kelly’s gun and I had no choice but to shoot you in the head. That’d be a fucking shame, wouldn’t it, Lieutenant Kelly?”  
  
“Damn shame, boss,” Chin said calmly.   
  
“You know how much sympathy cop killers get when they’re in custody? You know what other cops are gonna do if I kill your sorry ass right here? Cover for me, right before they take me out for as many free beers as I can drink.” Steve pressed the barrel of the gun harder against the man’s head. “Now here’s your new deal, you stinking piece of shit. You tell me what I wanna know, and I don’t kill you. Anything else I might throw in later, like medical care for that leg, depends on how good your information is and what kind of a mood I’m in, got it?”  
  
Shemanski started to nod and then stared, almost cross-eyed, and Steve’s hand that was holding the gun on him, finger on the trigger, pulling back slightly.   
  
“I got it,” he croaked.   
  
“Who hired you?”  
  
“Edwards’ wife,” he managed. “Rachel.”  
  
“Tell me how it went down.”  
  
“God, please, my leg...I’ll tell you whatever you wanna know.”  
  
“Do you still want a lawyer? Because I can’t take your statement unless you waive your right to counsel.”  
  
“You’ve got a gun to my head!” Shemanski squeaked, though Steve had eased the pressure on his throat a bit so he could talk.   
  
“You see any witnesses to that? Do I have a gun to his head, Lieutenant Kelly?”  
  
“I didn’t notice that. I think you’ve been very polite and by-the-book with our suspect. You simply informed him of his options, and that he has a right to invoke, but we also have a right to take any potential deals off the table when that happens. I recall Mr. Shemanski expressing interest in the terms of your deal.”  
  
“You two are crazy! You’re fucking monster cops, man! This is police brutality!”   
  
“You know what was brutal? Luring my partner out of his house and shooting him twice in the gut. That was brutal. Do you want to know how much training I have in torture? Both taking it and dishing it out? This, my friend, is a fucking love pat!” he shouted, pressing the barrel of the gun even harder against Shemanski’s forehead, putting more pressure on his leg. “Now, if you want me to demonstrate, you can keep whining like a little bitch or you can start talking.”  
  
“Fine, I changed my mind, I don’t want a lawyer! I want a deal!”  
  
“Now that’s good to know.” Steve eased the pressure on his leg a bit and put the safety back on the gun, but kept it handy. “Tell me everything, and make sure it’s the truth. Start out with how you even know Rachel Edwards."  
  
"I do odd jobs and handyman work around their house. Stan Edwards was looking for someone reliable who was good with basic carpentry and landscaping to do a few jobs around his place, and my foreman sent the work my way."  
  
"Your foreman referred an ex-con with a rap sheet a mile long to go work at the developer's mansion?" Chin asked, raising his eyebrows.  
  
"That convenience store thing was a long time ago. The gun I used wasn't even real. It was a water pistol. I tossed it in a dumpster a few blocks away, and by the time the cops went looking for it, it was gone with the trash, so it was my word against the store clerk's that it was real. She thought it was, so I did hard time for it. I know I've got some crap on my record, but I've been doin' all right since I got this construction job. For two years I've kept my nose clean. No drinking, either."  
  
"Until that beer you threw at my partner's car to lure him out into the carport so you could kill him."  
  
"I was kind of stressed out," Shemanski shot back. "Anyhow, Edwards' wife was always real nice when I was there. She'd bring out lemonade or ice tea or something when it was hot, and she said I did nice work. She even asked to have me supervise some renovations they had done in their kitchen because she said I knew what I was doing and I always kept my job site cleaned up so it didn't get in her way. They have a pretty little girl, too. She's real nice."  
  
"She's the one who would have been fatherless after you killed my partner," Steve added. "Keep going," he said, gesturing with his gun. It wasn't loaded, anyway, but Shemanski didn't need to know that. He'd have never risked playing with the trigger and removing the safety on a loaded gun against a suspect's head, but he was a good enough actor that Shemanski apparently believed he would. That's all that mattered.  
  
"I overheard them talk a lot about the whole custody thing, how it was fucking up their plans to move to Vegas. Rachel wanted Edwards to give up the projects there when the custody thing didn't go their way and they couldn't take the little girl with them. He said there was too much invested in it already, and he'd just have to live there for a while and come back for visits. There was a lot of arguing about that."  
  
"How did that get us here?" Steve asked.  
  
"She was real upset this one morning, she even started crying, telling me how this was her second marriage and now it was gonna split because her asshole ex-husband got custody, and she said she left her first husband because he was molesting the little girl but she couldn't prove it and the kid was too scared to talk, and now he was gonna have shared custody and she'd have to live with him part of the time. So I guess your partner isn't as squeaky clean as you thought," he said, looking triumphant for a moment like he'd played a card Steve didn't expect.  
  
"That's a filthy fucking lie. She played you. I suppose you think you're the big hero, saving this poor little girl from her pervert father, right?" Steve asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Danny would never hurt his daughter and he's no pervert."  
  
"Cops all stick together. That's supposed to convince me?"  
  
"I don't give a rat's ass if it convinces you or not. I don't have to convince you of anything. You have to tell me something that resembles the truth, so if you're trying to build in a deal for yourself by pretending to be some big hero who saved this little girl from being molested, you're screwed, pal."  
  
"Finish your story, Shemanski," Chin said. Steve knew his anger and frustration at not being able to just let loose and beat the living shit out of Danny's attacker wasn't working in his favor. He walked away a bit, turning his back on the man in the chair but still listening.  
  
"She said she thought the move to Vegas would be a way to start over and get her daughter away from that guy, but then the custody thing went against them...she said the only way she could protect her daughter was if something happened to her ex. She didn't say anything else about it for a while, but then one afternoon while I was working on repairing the railing on their deck, she came out with lemonade and sat down to talk to me while I was working. She asked me if I knew anyone who could help her with a personal problem...that there was good money in it. I asked her what it was, and she said she was looking for someone who could 'take care' of her ex-husband. That's how she said it. I asked her what she wanted - like, someone to go beat the guy up, teach him a lesson or scare him off? She said she wanted him gone for good, out of the picture. I said I might know someone."  
  
"Who did you have in mind?" Chin asked.  
  
"Me. But I wanted to know how much she was offering and I didn't want to say anything right then. I mean, even talking about that and then not going to the cops is trouble. She said she'd pay fifty grand up front, and another fifty when the job was done. The first fifty is in an envelope inside a plastic bag inside my toilet tank at my apartment. Obviously, I didn't get the second fifty."  
  
"Obviously," Steve said, trying to control his rage at hearing Danny's life boiled down to a price tag between a scheming ex-wife and some two-bit hood she hired to kill him. Steve looked at his watch. It was after three; Grace would be out of school, and Rachel would be taking her up to see Danny in the hospital. "Think you can finish up with our friend here?" he asked Chin.  
  
"Sure," he said as Steve pulled him aside, out of earshot of Shemanski.   
  
"Rachel was supposed to bring Grace up to the hospital to see Danny after school. I'm heading over there. I need a black and white unit for back up, because I'm gonna arrest her right there. I'll call the DA's office on the way."  
  
"You think she'll try anything at the hospital?"  
  
"No, but I'm not taking any chances. I also don't want her to get wind of Shemanski's arrest and have time to get a story together. I want to get her off guard. Plus, Grace will be with Danny and we can look after her without dealing with Stan. I'm not sure yet if he's in on this. Depends on where the money came from Rachel was using. Stan's got plenty of it, but if she's using his money, I think even he'd notice a hundred K missing from his bank account."  
  
"You want us to pick him up for questioning?"  
  
"Yeah, do that - you and Kono. I'm gonna call my mother and see if she'll watch Grace while I have a little visit with Rachel."  
  
"You gonna use the same methods with her?" Chin asked, grinning a little, nodding toward Shemanski.  
  
"Nothing I'd enjoy more, but I imagine she'll lawyer up before I get the first question all the way out."


	6. Tainted Love, Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny's bout with a strange illness ultimately brings Steve and Danny closer, until an unexpected crisis threatens their future. See Chapter One for Notes.

When Steve arrived at the hospital, Rachel wasn't there yet. He went into Danny's room to find him sitting up in bed, sipping some water from a cup with a straw in it, held by a nurse's aide.   
  
"I bet that's Steve," she said, smiling at Danny. She was a pretty young woman with long dark hair and brown eyes.   
  
"Hey," Danny said, smiling at Steve like he was the best thing on earth. Steve smiled back, approaching the bed.   
  
"Looking good, Danno," he said, leaning over and kissing him. "How's he doing?"  
  
"Hey, I'm right here," Danny protested.  
  
"I've been on the whole day shift, and he's had a really good day. Getting stronger and complaining about being in the hospital," she said. "Dr. Berry is doing her rounds, so she'll be in to see you in a little while," she said, looking at Danny. "And we're expecting your daughter pretty soon, right?"  
  
"Yeah, anytime now," he said, looking cheered up by that.  
  
"I'll let you two visit," she said. "Just press the call button if you need anything."  
  
"Thanks, Carrie," Danny replied, smiling. When she was gone, he took Steve's hand as he sat on the side of Danny's bed. "You look grim, babe. If I didn't know better I'd say the doctor gave you bad news about me."  
  
"No, nothing like that," Steve said, and the thought chilled him even if it was a joke. He took Danny's hand in both of his and kissed it. "You're gonna be okay, Danno."  
  
"What's going on, Steven?" Danny asked, frowning.  
  
"We got the shooter."  
  
"That's great. I knew you'd hunt the fucker down. Who is it?"  
  
"You don't know him. He's a small-time offender with a fairly long rap sheet. He was hired."  
  
"Hired? So...you know who hired him?"  
  
"Yeah, I do." Steve was quiet a moment.  
  
"And? What?" Danny paused. "Look, Steve, if this is a Wo Fat thing, it's not your fault and I'm not gonna blame you for that."  
  
Steve was moved by that, and he squeezed Danny's hand.   
  
"That means a lot to me, buddy, but it isn't Wo Fat." He took in a deep breath. "It was Rachel."  
  
"What?" Danny asked, with an disbelieving smile, shaking his head. "That's insane."  
  
"Danny, I'm so sorry."  
  
"I suppose you're taking the word of a shooter who's trying to make a deal?"  
  
"His story makes sense. He works for a construction company that's owned by Stan's development company, and he's done handyman work at Stan's and Rachel's. He knew all about the custody situation..."  
  
"I know Rachel was pissed off about that, but come on, Steve, she's Grace's mother. She wouldn't hire a hit man to kill me."  
  
"He wasn't going to lie to me in that interrogation."  
  
"Shit, Steven, what did you do to him? Are you gonna end up in prison?"  
  
"No. He's still alive and we’ve gotten him medical attention for that nice hole you put in his leg."  
  
"Are you sure? Steve, come on, Rachel? If you go after her and you're wrong about this, it's gonna break Grace's heart and ruin her life for nothing."  
  
"I'm not wrong, Danny. I wish I were. And it's gonna hurt Grace, but it won't ruin her life. We won't let it."  
  
"I know she was angry...seems like she's always angry at me for something. This screwed up their plans to move, I know, but this is attempted murder. This means she wanted somebody to literally shoot me down in cold blood and to see me dead...to get me out of Grace's life..." Danny looked away and Steve could see his throat working.   
  
Steve pressed the button to raise the head of the bed a bit. He knew Danny was weak and sore from his wounds, but he carefully got his arms around him, and wasn't surprised that Danny used what strength he had to hold on, letting himself cry on Steve's shoulder. While Danny seemed to have long since gotten over being in love with Rachel, she still seemed to have the ability to hurt him. She was Grace's mother and she would always hold a special place in his heart for that reason. Steve wasn’t surprised this cut him so deeply. It had shocked Steve and he didn't think he was capable of being shocked anymore by the lousy things human beings did to each other.  
  
"How could she do that to Grace? Does she think I'm that...disposable in Grace's life that she can just kill me because I'm in the way and Grace will be okay about it?"  
  
"I can't imagine what she was thinking, Danno." He rubbed Danny's back lightly, up high, by his shoulders, to avoid any pressure on the exit wound the bullet had left a bit lower.  
  
"I'm gonna be sick," Danny croaked, and Steve managed to get the little plastic dish under his chin just in time. He set it aside and wiped Danny's mouth as he lay back on the pillows, looking exhausted.   
  
"Just rest, buddy. I'm gonna sit with you for a little while until Rachel gets here with Grace, then we'll...take care of things. Grace won't see anything happen. My mother said she'd be glad to spend some time with Grace whenever we need help, so she won't be alone and she won't have to see what's going on with Rachel."  
  
"Maybe it was Stan. Maybe he was behind it," Danny said.  
  
"We're still investigating all the angles," Steve said.   
  
"But you're gonna arrest her."  
  
"Danny, we have enough to do it, and with their money and resources, we can't afford to hesitate."  
  
"Hurts," he mumbled, his hand going to his incision site.  
  
"I'll get the nurse."  
  
"No, don't do that right now. It hurt before. Just...don't go yet."  
  
"I won't, Danno," he said softly, stroking Danny's hair back from where a few strands had fallen on his forehead.   
  
"It's just hard...to think she hated me like that. I always loved her so much. All I ever wanted was to be a family with her, and Grace, and all she ever wanted to do was get rid of me."  
  
"I don't think she always felt that way. She loved you once, enough to marry you and have your child, enough to get back together with you for a while... People do awful things for money, to preserve their lifestyle..."  
  
"If I don’t testify against her...if I don’t cooperate--”  
  
“It’s out of your hands, Danny. You know that. With an attempted murder for hire, it’s not up to you. Those charges are made on behalf of the People of Hawaii. Plus, truthfully, you don’t have that much to add to the case that even withdrawing your testimony would change things that much. You’re a cop. Don’t let some kind of old feeling for Rachel make you throw that away by refusing to cooperate with prosecuting her. That’s not even a favor to Grace, even if you think it is.”  
  
“Not sending her mother to prison sounds like a favor to me. You have to stop this, Steve. You can’t do this to Grace.”  
  
“I can’t stop it. You can’t protect her. She tried to have you killed.”  
  
“It’s not like she’s a menace to society. She’s Grace’s mother. Don’t put my daughter’s mother in prison, please, Steve, don’t do this.”  
  
“What’s going on in here?” a female voice interrupted them. Steve turned to see Danny’s doctor standing in the doorway. “His blood pressure and heart rate are way up,” she said, gesturing at the monitor. “You’ll have to leave.”  
  
“No, he’s not leaving,” Danny said. “Give us a minute.”  
  
“You’re still in ICU, Detective Williams, and your condition is not stable enough for this kind of stress.”  
  
“Yeah, well, there’s nothing I can do about the fact someone tried to kill me. I mean it, you’re just pissing me off, Doc, so give us a minute.”  
  
“Fine,” she turned and walked out the door, angry.  
  
“Don’t do this, Steve, I mean it. You could stop this.”  
  
“No, Danny, I can’t stop it. I’m not the only one who knows about it. The wheels are in motion. Besides, if she does this to you and gets away with it, what’s to stop her from doing it to someone else later who gets in her way again? And what kind of mother are you keeping around for Grace?”  
  
“She wouldn’t hurt Grace and this is going to scar her for the rest of her life. How do I do that to my daughter?”  
  
“Danny, you didn’t do it. Rachel did. You’re the victim here, not the perp. This isn’t your call. Believe it or not, it isn’t even mine. The DA knows, Chin and Kono know. My mother knows, for God’s sake. It’s not a secret. We’re picking Stan up at the same time, for questioning. This isn’t containable and I can’t stop it.”  
  
“How do I tell Grace? What do I tell her?”  
  
“You tell her the truth, and we tell her together, because you shouldn’t have to handle that alone.”  
  
“I tell her that her mother tried to kill her father?”  
  
“What else are we gonna do, Danny? Tell her ‘Mommy went on vacation’...for 10 to 20 years? We have to tell her the truth. We can water it down and sugar coat it but at the end of the day, she’s gonna find out so it’s better she finds out from us that the TV or social media or her friends on the playground.” Steve was quiet a moment. Danny was white as a sheet and his hand shook when he brushed it past his eyes. “Danno...I’m sorry. I really am.” Steve took his hand again. “Let me get the doctor back in here to check you out and give you something to help you rest.”  
  
“You’re gonna arrest Rachel when she gets here. I can’t just go to sleep.”  
  
“Grace needs you more than ever, Danny. You have to take care of yourself.”  
  
“I’ll be okay,” he said, but his voice wasn’t steady.  
  
“You’d actually forgive her for trying to kill you, wouldn’t you?”  
  
“No, I’m not that pathetic. But she’s Grace’s mother and I’d lie down in the street and get run over if I thought I could spare her what this is gonna put her through. Rachel would never try this on me again, and she’d never hurt Grace. She had something really specific she wanted to achieve here, and outside of punishing her for it, there’s no reason to put her in prison. She has two kids who are going to grow up without a mother. That’s not a win.”  
  
“No, it’s not, but you didn’t make that happen. Rachel did it. She made the choice to do something this awful, and she has to pay for it.”  
  
“But so does Grace, and that’s the part I can’t handle.”   
  
“You’re not gonna handle it alone,” Steve replied, carefully sliding his arms around Danny again. “Try to relax, sweetheart. It’s gonna be okay.”  
  
“How?”  
  
“I don’t know exactly,” Steve said honestly. “We’ll do everything we can for Grace, and depending on Stan’s involvement in all this, for Charlie if he ends up without his dad, too.”  
  
“I just didn’t want to lose my daughter...and now I managed to take her mother away from her.”  
  
“How are you making this your fault? She tried to kill you. That’s on her.”  
  
“But she wouldn’t have done it if I’d let her take Grace to Vegas and just followed them. None of this would have happened.”  
  
“And the woman who gets raped wouldn’t have gotten raped if she didn’t walk across that dark parking lot at night, and the convenience store clerk who gets shot wouldn’t have gotten shot if he’d taken the job at the fast food restaurant instead. And the family who gets killed in a car accident wouldn’t have if one of the kids wasn’t running late and they’d left on time. Shit happens all the time because of things we do, but that doesn’t mean we deserved it or that we caused it. It’s not a reasonable reaction to a custody battle to kill your ex. You couldn’t have known you had to factor that risk into it when you fought for your place in Grace’s life. It’s not your fucking fault this happened, Danny. Quit trying to make it your fault.”   
  
Steve could feel Danny’s sharp, uneven breaths even though he was mostly muffling the sound against Steve’s shoulder. When he was calmer, Steve moved away and went to the bathroom to get a cool cloth. He bathed Danny’s face and got him a drink of water he took through the straw in the plastic cup. His vital signs were slowing a bit, and he was breathing easier.   
  
“I need to stay awake to see Gracie.”  
  
“I know, Danno. I’ll talk to the doctor, don’t worry. I love you, and I love Grace, and we’ll be okay, I promise.”  
  
“Okay,” Danny conceded, though Steve was sure he wasn’t feeling that calm or confident. Before Steve could go seek out the doctor, she returned to the room. Danny gave her a sideways glance. “Sorry, Doc. I just got some really bad news.”   
  
“Maybe that could have been timed a bit better, when he was out of ICU,” she said, giving Steve a withering stare.  
  
“Actually, it couldn’t have been. We’re arresting his ex-wife in connection with the shooting, and that will have a huge impact on his daughter’s living situation. Plus, they’re expected here any minute, and we’ll be arresting her before she leaves the hospital. So I really couldn’t wait, as much as I would have liked to.”  
  
“I’m sorry to hear that.”  
  
“I’m sorry if we’ve caused any disruption in the ICU,” Steve said. “And for any rudeness we’ve shown you, but it’s a very difficult situation, and unfortunately, I couldn’t shield Danny from it as much as I wish I could have.”  
  
“I understand,” she said. “The important issue here is our patient,” she said, her look softening a bit. “I don’t suppose you’ll consent to a sedative now?”  
  
“No, not with my daughter on her way here.”  
  
"Then you'll have to do your best to keep calm, because if your pulse and blood pressure elevate like that again, I will need to sedate you.”  
  
“Grace is good medicine for me,” he said, smiling.  
  
“No more bad news today,” she said, and while she kept her tone light, the look she gave Steve let him know she wasn’t joking.   
  
“How long are they gonna keep me locked up in here?” Danny asked, sighing, then wincing and moving his hand a bit feebly to his wound site.   
  
“Probably a few days, until you’re a little stronger.”  
  
“Where’s Grace gonna be?”  
  
“At my place. My mother said she’d cover any times I couldn’t be there myself. She’s not going near Stan until we know there’s no connection between him and this whole mess.”  
  
“What about Charlie?”  
  
“Charlie’s not in danger from either one of them, Danny, no matter what they’re into. But he could wind up with CPS if Stan’s arrested.”  
  
“Can’t you do something about that? Who knows what kind of foster home they’ll stick him in, and he’s Grace’s half brother.”  
  
“Okay. I’ll see what we can do about Charlie. There’s a nanny there through the day, right?”  
  
“Part-time, I think. She doesn’t really spend much time with Grace, just mainly helping Rachel with Charlie, since Grace is with me pretty much anytime she’s not with Rachel. I’m always trying to get more time with her so a lot of times Rachel would ordinarily have the nanny watch her or pick her up, I do it.”  
  
“Don’t worry about it, Danno. I’ll make sure Charlie’s okay. My mom handled two kids for a long time, so I’m sure she’ll help out with Charlie, too.”  
  
“Probably turn him into a little tiny Rambo, judging by what she did the first time around,” he joked, weakly punching Steve in the arm.  
  
“Yeah, well, worse things could happen,” Steve retorted.  
  
“If he turns out like you, I’m all for Doris as a babysitter.”  
  
“Sweet talker,” Steve said, leaning forward and kissing him. There was a tap at the door and one of the uniformed officers poked his head inside.  
  
“Commander McGarrett?” he asked, motioning to Steve.  
  
“Relax. I’ll be back in a bit,” he said, patting Danny’s arm as he followed the officer out to the hall.   
  
“Mrs. Edwards’ car is in the parking lot and she’s on her way up here with the girl.”  
  
“Okay. Keep eyes on her at all times. We don’t make a move until Danny’s daughter is with him, and we can make the arrest down by the elevators. I don’t want her hearing something and coming out to see her mother in handcuffs.”  
  
“Got it.”   
  
As Rachel and Grace came down the hall toward the room, Danny’s security detail was in place, but greeted them pleasantly, one of the officers holding the door to Danny’s room open for her to walk in with Grace. Rachel’s face fell a bit when she saw Steve standing there. Grace was carrying a covered plastic container of something, which she set on Danny’s bed table.  
  
“Mom made you some chicken salad so you don’t have to eat hospital food for dinner,” she said, and there was something in her smile at Danny that Steve found odd, as if they had some kind of inside joke about the chicken salad.   
  
The chicken salad Rachel made.  
  
The same chicken salad that Danny ate the night before he was so deathly sick that Steve had to literally carry him to bed.  
  
Rachel seemed to feel the piercing stare from Steve, and Danny picked up on it, too, then looked at the container on the table like it was a live snake.  
  
“I’ll take this and ask the nurse if it’s okay for Danno to eat it,” Steve said to Grace with a smile, picking up the container as Rachel reached for it. “That was really thoughtful of you, Rachel. I hope Danny doesn’t have any dietary restrictions that would make this harmful for him to eat,” he said, smiling, looking her in the eyes.  _I know what you did, you bitch. I hope you like orange, because you’ll be wearing it for the next couple decades._  
  
“I can take it back home. I’m sure Stan will eat it. I can bring Danny something when he’s feeling better.”  
  
“No, I insist. I’ll check it out. That okay with you, Danny?”  
  
“Be my guest,” he said, still staring at Rachel in disbelief.  
  
Steve took the container outside and, in the presence of one of the officers, lifted the lid and sniffed it. There was an odd, slightly unpleasant odor to it that wasn’t consistent with chicken salad, even if it did have onions in it and had been sealed in a plastic container. He handed it to the officer.   
  
“Get this over to the lab and have it analyzed for any toxic ingredients that could cause illness or possibly death. Tell them top priority.”  
  
“You got it, Commander,” the young officer said, taking the container and heading for the exit. Just then, Rachel came out of Danny’s room, looking like she was planning to get out of there as fast as she could.  
  
“In a hurry?” Steve asked, falling into step with her.  _You don’t know what I have on you, do you? You think I’ve got to wait for that food to be tested. You haven’t even asked about it._  
  
“Actually, I have to pick Stan up from a meeting. His car is in the shop,” she said, smiling.   
  
“You know it’s over, don’t you?” Steve asked as they paused by the elevators.  
  
“Excuse me?”  
  
“We have Shemanski in custody. The chicken salad is on its way to the lab. It’s over, Rachel.”  
  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she protested, though Steve could see the fear in her eyes. Two more uniformed police officers got off the elevator. Steve pulled out his handcuffs and her eyes went wide. “Rachel Edwards, you’re under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder. Please put your hands behind your back--”  
  
“I’ll do no such thing. I have a right to a lawyer!”  
  
“I was just getting to that part, but that doesn’t stop me from arresting you. You have the right to remain silent,” Steve began, reciting all of her rights calmly and trying not to enjoy this moment too much. “Now, please put your hands behind your back.”  
  
“This is outrageous. I hope you’re prepared for a lawsuit unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.”  
  
“I hope you’re prepared for the women’s correctional facility, lady. I bet it’s not like anything you’ve seen before, either. Now put your hands behind your back. I’m not gonna ask you again.”  
  
“What are you going to do? Take me down like a common street thug?”  
  
“No, frankly, Rachel, I’d have more respect for a common street thug. You were gonna let your daughter give her father the food that would end up killing him. Most street thugs would cringe at that.” He took a hold of Rachel’s arm and moved her hand behind her back and fastened a cuff around her wrist and then did the same with the other arm. She wasn’t exactly cooperative, but she was wise enough not to actively resist it.   
  
“I’m not saying anything without a lawyer present, so if you’re planning to throw me in your little dungeon and break out the rubber hoses, you should think again.”  
  
“Never hire a handyman to do a mechanic’s job.” Steve turned to the uniformed officers. “Book her and make sure she has a nice holding cell to wait in until her lawyer arrives. Do not put her in the same area with her husband, is that clear?”  
  
“Yes, sir,” the officer said, taking Rachel by the arm to escort her out to the waiting squad car.   
  
“Stan? You arrested Stan, too?” she demanded, angry.  
  
“That’s not your concern. You’ve got enough to worry about with your own situation.”  
  
********  
  
"Where did Mom go?" Grace asked, frowning, as minutes passed and Rachel didn't return.  
  
"Gracie, how would you feel about staying at Uncle Steve's for a while? Your mom and Stan have some business to straighten out, and they might have to be away for a bit."  
  
"What kind of business? Mom didn't say anything about it."  
  
"It came up suddenly," Danny said, hating to lie to her, but not really prepared to explain the truth to her. And, truth be told, he felt too weak to handle such a difficult conversation without some moral support from Steve. Even then, he couldn't picture how he was going to tell Grace that her mother had tried to kill him. Not once, but four times. Two poison batches of chicken salad, a hired shooting, and now another batch of chicken salad.   
  
No wonder Rachel had looked so shocked when he came out on the porch that morning and waved to her, sending back her empty container as if he'd eaten its contents. That look had seemed odd then, but now it made perfect sense. She was shocked he was still alive, not even sick. She'd made two attempts on his life when Grace was with him, when his daughter would have to either witness him dying an agonizing death or find him dead in his bed in the morning. The only reason he was still alive was that Rachel wasn't willing to get her hands dirty with a good old fashioned shooting or stabbing that she carried out herself, and her attempts at a tidy, murder-from-a-distance had failed.  
  
“Danno? Are you okay?” Grace asked, concerned. Danny realized he’d zoned out on her, getting lost in his own morbid thoughts.   
  
“I will be, monkey,” he said, smiling at her. “Just tired. I promise I’ll tell you all the details when I’m feeling a little more up to it.”  
  
“That’s okay. I like hanging out at Uncle Steve’s.”  
  
“You might be spending some time with his mom. Remember Doris?”  
  
“Yeah, she’s nice. Where’s Uncle Steve gonna be?”  
  
“Working. It’ll all come together a little better when I’m out of the hospital and Uncle Steve gets some things straightened out at work.”  
  
“It’s okay,” she said, carefully hugging Danny on his good side. “I’m glad you’re okay.”  
  
“Me, too, monkey. We still have to do that science project together.”  
  
“You don’t have to if you don’t feel good,” she said, sitting on the side of the bed.   
  
“Uncle Steve can help us. Besides, if  _you_  ask him to help, he’ll work really hard on it for you. Of course, it’ll involve blowing something up.”  
  
“Really?” she asked, eyes wide, excited.  
  
“Oh, great, he’s turned my sweet, beautiful daughter into an adrenaline junky now.”  
  
“Joey’s making a volcano.”  
  
“Isn’t he the same brain surgeon who knows all about Tsunamis?”   
  
“Yeah, that’s him,” she said, laughing.   
  
“Volcanos are so overdone. Everybody does volcanos for science projects and they usually win because they’re big and they explode. Just tell Uncle Steve you need something bigger that also explodes, and you’ll win this year.”  
  
“Maybe we could blow up Joey’s volcano,” she joked, giggling.   
  
“Sabotage the enemy. You  _are_  hanging out with Uncle Steve too much.”   
  
“That’s what I get for leaving you guys alone,” Steve said, walking into the room. “You talk about me behind my back,” he joked.   
  
“Danno said I’d be staying with you and your mom.”  
  
“Yeah, for a little while. That okay?”  
  
“Sure. But there’s some stuff I need out of my room.”  
  
“We can swing by and pick up whatever you want,” Steve said. “As soon as Danno’s out of the hospital, we’ll get better organized. Might be better for you to not do steps for a while, so I can rearrange some stuff in the dining room and close it off for a bedroom,” he said to Danny, who nodded.   
  
“Everything...cleaned up at the house?” he asked.  
  
“We’ll go in through the patio doors, in back. The crime lab is still keeping things closed off where Danno got hurt so they can investigate,” he explained to Grace, who nodded. She’d been told Danny had been shot; there wasn’t much way to avoid telling her since it was all over the news and online about a cop being shot in front of his own home, including news footage of the front of their house with cops and crime scene tape all over the place.  
  
“Okay,” she said. “Did you arrest the man who shot him?” she asked.  
  
“We did. He’s in jail right now, and he’s not getting out for a very long time.”  
  
“That’s great!” she said. “Where’s Charlie gonna be while Mom and Stan are busy?”  
  
“I’ll know a little more about that later,” Steve said. “Do you want to go home now, or hang out with your dad a while longer? My mother can pick you up in a couple hours.”  
  
“I’ll stay with Danno,” she said, grinning.  
  
“I was hoping you’d say that,” Danny said, taking her hand.  
  
“Okay. You two be good.” Steve headed for the door.  
  
“Everything go smoothly?” Danny asked.   
  
“Yeah, I’m headed down to HQ now. I’ll fill you in on everything later.”  
  
“Okay,” Danny said, nodding. It wasn’t okay, but Steve was managing a horrible situation as well as it could be managed.


	7. Tainted Love, Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny's bout with a strange illness ultimately brings Steve and Danny closer, until an unexpected crisis threatens their future. See Chapter One for Notes.

“Steve, finally,” Stan said, gesturing in the air with his hands as he sat at the table in the interview room. Stan and Rachel had been provided slightly better accommodations than being handcuffed to a chair in the middle of a basement room, since the arrival of their overpriced lawyers was mostly likely impending, and Steve felt the argument over something as superficial as the rooms they were sitting in wasn’t worth the hassle. “Cops show up at my office and tell me I need to come downtown with them for questioning in Danny’s shooting. For God’s sake, Steve, you know I wouldn’t shoot Danny. What is this about?”

“You recognize this guy?” Steve opened a folder and showed him a photo of Shemanski.

“Yeah, sure I do. He does handyman work for us. He works for Blue Water Construction. Why?”

“He’s our shooter.”

“Oh, my God... Did he confess, or say why he did it?” Stan asked, and Steve had to hand it to him. If he was in on the conspiracy, he was a pretty fair actor. 

“Oh, yeah, he had a lot to say,” Steve said, sitting at the table. “According to him, Rachel hired him to do it.”

“That’s insane. You know that, right? You’re not seriously considering that Rachel would do a thing like that, are you?”

“He tells a good story, Stan. My only question now is how much you know about all this.”

“I’ll save you a lot of time. Nothing. Why would I want to kill Danny?”

“The custody issue.”

“I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that wasn’t an inconvenience. That I wasn’t frustrated with not being able to move my family to Vegas. It’s going to be a hassle focusing on that development project and being there for my wife and kids when I’m doing it long distance, but it is what it is. I don’t have anything personal against Danny. Now that I’m a father myself, I can understand why he’d fight it. I wouldn’t let anyone take Charlie anywhere without one hell of a fight.”

“So Rachel makes a pretty mean chicken salad, doesn’t she?”

Stan blinked, staring at Steve as if he’d gone insane.

“What?”

“Rachel’s chicken salad. I hear she makes an outstanding chicken salad.”

“She does? That’s nice. Rachel almost never cooks. We have a cook and a housekeeper who handle that. She’s made cookies with Grace a few times...”

“Must be an old family recipe. Danny always loved it.” Steve sat back in his chair. “It’s especially tasty when it’s laced with diazinon. Just got the lab results back on the most recent batch of the stuff she brought Danny in the hospital this afternoon. Now, I don’t have proof - yet - but this is the third batch she’s brought him in the last few weeks. After he ate the first batch, he was so ill yet the next morning I found him on the floor in his bathroom and he couldn’t walk unassisted. The second batch, fortunately, he didn’t eat. The third, the one I just got the results back on? I think it’s nice she let Grace carry the container into Danny’s hospital room so she could participate in poisoning her father to death.”

“This is madness, Steve. You know us. You know Rachel. She wouldn’t do that.”

“Chin and Kono are leading a search of your house right now, so I’m sure they’ll locate the source of the poison.”

“If they’re looking for diazinon, they won’t have to look beyond the gardener’s shed. We had problems with a mite infestation in a section of the rose garden, and our gardener got a little heavy-handed with the stuff and screwed up the foliage on some of our best plants. Rachel was irate about it, wanted the guy fired. When we talked to him about it, she was angry he’d used that on them in hot, sunny conditions. I guess if you put pesticide on roses in the heat, it’s too much stress on them or something. Whatever it was, she thought he should know better.”

“Doesn’t work great as a recipe additive, either. Next time, tell her to try a dash of pickle juice for that extra tang.”

“It’s obvious you’ve made up your mind she’s guilty. What you’re suggesting is monstrous. I don’t know why this Shemanski guy would have something against us. We’ve given him quite a bit of work around our place, always paid him well. He does good work so I’ve never had a dispute with him. Rachel was even pleased with the job he did on some cabinet work indoors. Why would he set us up?”

“He didn’t set the two of you up. He said Rachel hired him. Not you. Honestly, Stan, I get the feeling you’re not involved in this.”

“I’m not!” he agreed, anxiously. “Neither is Rachel. She still cares about Danny.”

“You know about their...thing...that they were planning to get back together for a while there?”

“Yes, I know. She didn’t want to tell me about it at first, but she finally admitted they’d thought about reconciling while she and I were having problems. I know she chose to stick with our marriage and make a go of it, largely for Charlie, but we’ve done all right since then. But if she could consider that, so recently, then it’s pretty obvious she still had feelings for Danny. Which makes this ridiculous. There has to be some other explanation.”

“I’ve seen some innocent people arrested for murder.”

“Mistakes happen, and that’s what this is.”

“Rachel didn’t act like an innocent woman accused of something awful. She acted like a guilty one who was mad she got caught and throwing around threats of lawsuits and demanding her rights.”

“Rachel is a strong woman. You could even say she’s aggressive in some ways. It’s not her style to fall apart and play the damsel in distress.”

“It’s obvious you love your wife, Stan, and that’s not a bad thing. But it’s also obvious that she tried more than once to kill Danny. So love her or not, you’re gonna need to face that.”

“I think I’ve probably said more than I should as it is. If you have more questions, I will be happy to cooperate, but with my lawyer present. I also want to get Rachel counsel as soon as possible. I also need to check in with the nanny. Where are Charlie and Grace?”

“Grace is with Danny, and she’s going to be with us until this is settled. Charlie is at home, as far as I know. He wasn’t with Rachel and Grace. As long as you’re not charged with anything, which I don’t anticipate right now, anyway, you should be able to go home and retain custody of him.”

“Should be? I haven’t done anything and he’s my son, so don’t get any ideas about messing with that.”

“Like I said, as long as you aren’t charged, we have no reason to harass you or disrupt Charlie’s routine. We’ll know more after the search of the house is complete. If that doesn’t turn up anything, you’ll be free to go. I appreciate your cooperation, Stan. You have your cell, so feel free to call your lawyer. I don’t have any further questions right now, but I understand if you’re more comfortable having your lawyer present while you’re here.”

“Is Danny going to be all right?”

“It was touch and go for a while, but he’s awake now and his vital signs are stable. He’s still in ICU, but we’re hoping for a move to a normal room soon.”

“I never really had anything against Danny. I still don’t. Whoever’s responsible, I’m glad for him and Grace if he’s going to be okay.”

“I’ll pass that message on.” 

Steve left the interrogation room fairly confident that Stan wasn’t part of whatever plot Rachel had hatched to do away with Danny. His next stop was Rachel’s interrogation room. He wasn’t even surprised to see a silver-haired man with silver framed glasses dressed in a five thousand dollar business suit sitting at the table with her, talking to her in hushed tones. 

“I should tell Stan to save his breath about getting you counsel. I see you’ve already lawyered up,” Steve said as he entered the room.

“And you are?” the older man rose, arching an eyebrow at Steve.

“Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett, head of the Five-0 Task Force. And you?”

“My, that’s quite a title, Commander. William Richmond, Mrs. Edwards’ attorney. She is prepared to cooperate, with my counsel. Of course, she vehemently denies the absurd charges against her.”

“Of course, she does.” Steve and the attorney sat down. Rachel’s look in Steve’s direction was almost more murderous than a batch of her insecticide-laced chicken salad. “Tell me, Rachel, how is that mite infestation in your garden coming along?” he asked. There was a momentary flash of recognition in her features, but she said nothing, glancing at her lawyer.

“How is that relevant?” he asked.

“Just being friendly,” Steve said, giving them a fake smile as he opened the folder that had his notes from his interview with Stan, as well as the lab results. “I was wondering when you began incorporating diazinon into your chicken salad recipe.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she protested, though her lawyer touched her arm to remind her that he was there, and she should be waiting for him to advise her about answering the questions. 

“Stan was telling me about your insect problem. Apparently you consider Danny in the same category as the mites on your rosebushes. Only you obviously needed a larger dose of diazinon to take care of his interference in your life.”

“Do you have any actual questions for Mrs. Edwards or are you just going to make tasteless remarks at her expense?” the lawyer asked.

“How many actual attempts have you made on Danny’s life?” he asked, leaning his elbows on the table, lacing his fingers. 

“None,” she replied.

“According to the lab results on the chicken salad you brought to the hospital, you know, the container you let Grace carry in to give to her father, there was enough diazinon in it to kill two people. I thought it smelled odd when I sniffed it before I handed it off for testing. I guess when the first batch just made him so deathly sick he couldn’t walk unassisted, you upped the dose?”

Rachel leaned over and said something to the lawyer.

“Mrs. Edwards has no knowledge of how any poisonous substance wound up in that food. She’s not the only person who has access to their kitchen, food, or containers.”

“So the cook or the housekeeper did it?”

“Since the chemicals were used by our staff, I have no way of knowing if someone used a container inappropriately and it was contaminated somehow,” Rachel said. Even the lawyer looked displeased she’d said that, and Steve just rolled his eyes. 

“The gardener mixes the diazinon for the rosebushes in your Tupperware?” 

“I have a household staff, Steve. How should I know what they all do with my kitchen utensils every day? I don’t cook often. I made the chicken salad for Danny the first time as a sort of peace offering because he used to like it so much. I was angry about the custody situation but I figured we had to work together and get along for Grace’s sake, so I thought it might be a nice gesture. I don’t know how something toxic got into it.”

“The medical examiner mentioned that if Danny was exposed to poison in the last month, it would still be detectable in a hair sample, so we’re going to run those tests. I know how sick he was, and there was nothing else he ate or drank that either Grace or I didn’t eat or drink during the same time period.”

“You sound very personally involved with the victim, Commander.”

“They’re thick as thieves,” Rachel snapped, glaring at Steve. “Pardon the expression,” she added sarcastically. 

“Danny Williams is my partner on the task force, and we’ve been friends for years.”

“Perhaps you’re too personally involved to objectively handle the investigation,” Richmond said. Steve just gave him a pained smirk.

“It doesn’t matter what my relationship with Danny Williams is. I can’t fake these lab results, and I didn’t shoot him, so even if you have someone else conduct this interview, the evidence is there. It doesn’t lie.” He stood up and leaned across the table, glaring at Rachel. “You tried to poison him like he was just one more bug in your garden, and when you didn’t manage to kill him, you hired a handyman to shoot him down like a dog in his driveway. And when that didn’t work, you added a dash more poison to your recipe and made another stab at it. After all, he’s weak after nearly dying from two bullet wounds and excessive blood loss. A good poisoning ought to work on him this time, right? You’re a monster and if I have anything to do with it, you’ll never see your fancy house, or your daughter, again.” He looked at the lawyer, who was starting to open his mouth. “Don’t bother threatening me, and don’t try to strike a deal for your client unless she’s prepared to give us a full confession. Anything less isn’t worth my time. See you at arraignment.”

Rachel didn’t move in her chair, and she didn’t really glare back at Steve. She just stared at him, like a squirrel in the headlights. As he left the interview room, he enjoyed the memory of that look. 

********

Doris picked Grace up at the hospital and took her by Rachel’s and Stan’s house to pick up some things to take with her to Steve’s. The house had the “tossed” look most houses do after the police search it. Even Grace’s room was messy. Doris made a note to tell Steve about that; she had a feeling he’d come down on whatever cop decided ransacking a little girl’s bedroom was an essential part of the search. 

“Somebody’s been in all my stuff,” Grace said, distressed, tidying up her dresser drawers and straightening the clothes on hangers in her closet that were shoved to one side or crooked. “What happened? We should call Uncle Steve. Maybe somebody broke in.”

“I don’t think anyone broke in, Grace, but we’ll tell Steve about it as soon as he gets home tonight, okay?” Doris said, helping her tidy up the mess. “Let’s pick out what you want to bring, and we’ll make sure everything gets straightened up later.”

“Okay,” Grace said with a sigh. She packed the bag she used to shuttle between that house and Danny’s. Mary had been close to Grace’s age when Doris made her exit from her family’s lives. Being with Grace brought back memories; some of them good, but most of them not so good, because she couldn’t remember being with Mary or Steve without thinking of having to leave them. 

********

Steve returned to Danny’s hospital room a little after dinner time. The nurse told him they were moving Danny to a regular room that evening, as soon as one was ready. He was getting less and less patient with being catheterized, but how far he could walk was questionable, so he needed a room with a bathroom instead of one of the ICU rooms. He wasn’t quite strong enough for a trip to the communal restroom down the hall. 

“I guess you got the update on my toilet habits,” Danny said dismally at Steve sat on the bed near his legs. 

“I know this sucks, Danno. But you’re doing great considering what you’ve been through. How things stood last night at this time.”

“I hate what this is doing to Grace,” he said, his voice shaking. “She doesn’t even know yet.”

“I don’t think Stan’s involved,” Steve said, because he couldn’t really say or do anything about how this would impact Grace. All he could do was take care of her and Danny and make sure Rachel paid for it.

“Max came by and pulled my hair out by the roots. That was fun.”

“How much did he take?” 

“Just a few hairs, but I think he enjoyed it too much. Working on a live subject. Plus, I don’t think he minded pulling  _my_  hair out. He made some witty remark about us making him tear his hair out all the time so turnabout was fair play.”

“That’s Max for you. He’s testing it for the diazinon.”

“Diazinon? That’s what the poison was?”

“Yeah.”

“Fuck. An insecticide. I guess it doesn’t make it better if it was a fancier poison. But still.”

“Yeah, I know. But still...”

“Good thing I didn’t eat the second batch.”

“Why didn’t you eat the second batch?”

“I was so sick after I ate the first one that I just couldn’t. It nauseated me just smelling it.” Danny paused. “Come to think of it, it had kind of a weird smell, so maybe that was part of it.”

“Do you think you’re recalling a weird smell because you know now that something was in it?”

“No, I remember wanting to eat it, because I always liked it, but then it nauseated me because I’d gotten so sick after eating the last batch. I thought it smelled funny, but I figured it was my imagination or my paranoia that it had somehow made me sick before... You know, like when you eat something totally unrelated and then get really sick with the flu or something, and you associate the two for no valid reason besides the timing.”

“Yeah.”

“I thought the smell was off even then, and not so good.”

“I can’t believe Rachel would let Grace anywhere near that stuff.”

“Grace wouldn’t eat it, but yeah, if she decided to try it again...but then I didn’t think Rachel would try to kill me, either.”

“Then Rachel thought you ate it? No wonder she was amazed you were okay.”

“Grace knew I didn’t, but she kept my secret. I was trying not to be rude. Rachel was trying to murder me and I was worried about being rude to her.” Danny shook his head. “It’s not so much that Grace would ever eat the stuff, though I can’t believe she’d risk that, either, but it’s more that she’d be with me when I died from it. I mean, how could Rachel not think that would scar her, to watch me retch and die on the floor? You saw me when I ate the first batch. If she kept increasing the amount in it because the first try didn’t work, how in the hell could she want her daughter to watch me die that kind of death in front of her?”

“I don’t know, Danno. I guess she either thought you or Grace would call 9-1-1 for help...I can’t believe she’d think we wouldn’t find it in an autopsy. Shit, I don’t really want to even think about that.”

“Poisons don’t always show up. Some of them show up as something else, or look like a heart attack or some other cause. Grace called. She was all upset. I guess the cops who searched the house ransacked her room. When I get out of here, just tell me whose ass I need to kick.”

“I’ll take care of it. Not sure why they need to ransack a kid’s bedroom. You can search without trashing something, if you have a little skill and patience.”

“It’s nice Doris is willing to watch her. She doesn’t know Grace or me very well.”

“That’s gonna change,” Steve said, patting Danny’s leg. 

“Bet she’s excited,” Danny said sarcastically with a little snort.

“We had a talk. She knows, and she thinks I made a good choice.”

“Now you’re just plain lying.”

“I swear, that’s what she said.”

“Sure she did.”

“She referred to you as a 'worthy adversary'. From my mother, that's high praise," he joked, and Danny smiled, but it was faint. "Is the pain bad?"

"Yeah," he said with a little sigh. "But I hate being so loopy all the time and I didn't want to be knocked out while Grace was here."

"Grace is gonna be okay, Danno. I'll make sure someone reliable that she knows is always with her until you're back home. You need to rest and recover."

"You really didn't sign on for this," Danny said softly. "I know you'd always help me out...but if you changed your mind about anything...I understand."

"Why would this make me change my mind about anything?"

"Because I've got a long recovery ahead of me and now I'm a full-time father...I'm not in the same situation I was when we got together. Like that."

"So what? I love you and I love Grace. That didn't change. This is crap we have to go through, but we'll be okay." Steve leaned forward and kissed Danny, prolonging it enough to sneak in a little touch of tongues. "What's bothering you?"

"I knew a guy in Jersey who got shot on the job. Just once, about where I did. He ended up behind a desk. He was an undercover cop for years, and then all of a sudden he was pushing paper around for a living. The doctor said there's tissue and muscle damage... I got shot twice..."

"It's way too early to know how that's gonna go, Danno. Even if the worst thing happened, it wouldn't change anything between us personally. Just change what you could do on the job. You'd still be part of Five-0. It's not like we don't have a ton of work that has to be done on almost every case that's not in the field."

"I don't want to be an invalid and I'm not a desk jockey."

"You won't be. Who gave you that idea?"

"Nobody. I just...can't picture what I'm gonna do with my life if I can't be a cop. A normal one, out in the field, able to take care of myself...and back you up."

"Let's take one day at a time for now, okay? Slow and easy?"

"Yeah, okay," Danny agreed, but it was half-hearted. 

********

"I always try for remand when it's a murder case, but I have to say, it'll be a hard sell for this one," the district attorney said, leaning back in his desk chair. He was a middle aged man with receding brown hair and a stocky build. He had a reputation for his "take no prisoners" approach in the courtroom, so Steve was hopeful Rachel would be the beneficiary of that attitude now.

"The poisoned batch of food in the hospital was her fourth attempt. On one of the occasions, her daughter had unsupervised access to the poisoned food and was the one Rachel used to deliver it to Danny. Grace doesn't like that particular dish, so she was unlikely to eat it, but--"

"There was no control in place to be sure she didn't. And this most recent attempt, her daughter also could have eaten it while she was with her father."

"Absolutely. Danny got an additional batch of the stuff Rachel sent to him with Grace, and didn't eat any of it because it nauseated him since he got so sick off it the first time, and he also thought it smelled funny, but he chalked that up to the whole nausea thing at the time. I asked him specifically if he recalled the odor independent of this whole situation coming to light, and he said he did."

"Okay. I’ll need to talk to the daughter. Can you get her in here tonight?"

"Danny's not gonna want her involved."

"All I'm going to ask her is neutral stuff about whether or not her mother sent the food with her, and establish a few time lines. She can't really verify anything else for us at this point, unless she witnessed any meetings or conversations between her mother and Shemanski. If so, we may have to call on her for testimony."

"Danny won't allow it. I can tell you that right now. He was trying to negotiate with me not pursuing charges against Rachel at all to save his daughter the pain this is gonna cause her."

"Well, that's fucked up."

"Danny would do anything to protect Grace, so there's no way he'll allow her to be put in the position of testifying against her own mother. He didn’t want Rachel prosecuted because he didn’t want to take his daughter’s mother away from her or make her grow up with this kind of shadow hanging over her."

"We'll worry about that later. I've got enough for now. I'll try for remand. God knows she's earned it," he said.

“I want to be sure Danny has custody of Grace while this is going on.”

“That’s a family court judge’s decision, but I can make a couple phone calls. What about his recovery? Can he take care of his daughter in the condition he’s in?”

“I’m moving them in with me while he recuperates and my mother is staying with me, too, so she’s agreed to help watch Grace anytime we need her to.”

“Rachel Edwards’ lawyer has made an accusation that you are too personally involved with the victim and that this is a personal vendetta for you.”

“I am personally involved with Danny and Grace. He’s my best friend and my partner and Grace is like a daughter to me. But like I told Richmond, I can’t manufacture evidence and test results. They are what they are, and I have no reason to target Rachel for anything. Why would I have a vendetta against Grace’s mother? Like Danny, I hate that Grace will be hurt by this, and have to face what her mother did. I sure as hell wouldn’t create the situation.”

“Your relationship with the victim could be an issue at trial.”

“Why? Besides, the crime scene and the Edwards’ house was processed by other Five-0 and HPD personnel. I wasn’t even there most of the time. With the exception of the bowl of chicken salad Rachel brought to the hospital, I haven’t physically touched any of the evidence, and even that I handed off to an HPD officer moments after I gained control of it.”

“Just be sure everything is documented. Chain of custody on everything. I’m sure it’s a last ditch effort because he knows his client is guilty as hell, but stranger things have gotten people acquitted. All it takes is reasonable doubt.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure all the ducks are in a row for this one.” Steve paused. "Are you open to a deal on this if they want to negotiate?"

"Four attempts at murder, one of which included hiring a hit man? With good evidence? Not unless she's gonna do hard time."

"I don't know if Rachel is capable of sacrifice for the sake of her children. She didn't mind if Grace watched Danny die in front of her. But if she is, maybe it will be a way to strike a deal, to save her daughter from hearing all the horrible stuff she's bound to hear if this goes to a full trial."

"I"ll keep that in mind, but I'm not offering any free passes here."

"Yeah, well, I don't want to see her get off easy. I just know a trial is going to be a high profile nightmare and it's not going to do anything good for her kids."

"We don't have anything on Stan Edwards," the DA said. "I honestly don't think the guy had a clue what his wife was up to. Still, I want his financials and his life gone over with a fine tooth comb."

"We're on it," Steve said. "Any pull you've got with that family court judge," Steve said, pausing, "Danny's worried about the baby, Charlie, ending up with CPS or in foster care if there are charges brought against Stan. We'd like to take him with us if that's ever necessary."

"We?"

Steve ran his hand over his face, sighing. "Danny and I are...personally involved." He waited a moment while that registered. "I thought you should know, so you don't get surprised by it."

"Well, I appreciate your candor," he said. "You know you shouldn't be leading the investigation into his attempted murder.”

“It’s a team effort by the task force, and we do have a slightly different set of rules than the HPD.”

“My problem isn’t how I feel about it or even how Governor Denning feels about it, or the privileges he might grant you. My problem is, if we go to trial, I have to convince twelve people that this wealthy, cultured, innocent-looking wife and mother is a ruthless potential killer. That’s an uphill battle, and then you throw in that her ex-husband’s boyfriend is in charge of the investigation against her? No, I’m not willing to be a laughing stock, even for you and your task force.”

“What do you want me to do? The suspect is already in custody. We’ve searched the house, collected evidence...”

“I’ll have an investigator from my office go through everything that’s been collected so far, review the witness statements and talk to the key suspects.”

“So you’re going to have someone redo my job, is that it?”

“This isn’t personal. If you want the people who almost killed your partner behind bars and you don’t want them to get out on appeal because of some bias - real or perceived - in the handling of evidence or suspects or witness statements, you’ll need to cooperate with this. I’ll talk to Denning, make sure we’re on the same page. This isn’t intended as an implication that you didn’t do your job. It’s plugging a loophole.”

“Fine. Whatever you need to do.”

 


	8. Tainted Love, Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny's bout with a strange illness ultimately brings Steve and Danny closer, until an unexpected crisis threatens their future. See Chapter One for Notes.

Stan was released after questioning with no charges brought against him. The DA didn’t anticipate charging him, because there was no evidence he knew anything about Rachel’s plot to kill Danny, and nothing to tie him to the physical evidence. Rachel pleaded not guilty at her arraignment, and the judge set bail at a million dollars. Not surprisingly, Stan had no trouble raising the necessary amount to get her out of jail, and she was home the same day. The family court ruled in Danny’s favor that he would have full custody of Grace pending the outcome of the trial. Charlie would remain with Stan and Rachel unless charges were ultimately filed against Stan and Rachel was convicted. Danny was moved to a private room in a normal wing of the hospital, out of ICU. Now that Grace was to be with him full-time, he was even more anxious and motivated to get out of the hospital and be as much support for her as he could.   
  
Despite everyone’s best efforts to shield her from what was going on, Grace had to be told because it was only a matter of time before one of her friends, or social media, gave her the details in a less sensitive way. Danny insisted on doing that job himself, but he did take Steve up on his offer to be there. So after they had some takeout from Kamekona’s sitting in Danny’s hospital room, Danny took on the task of explaining to his ten-year-old daughter something that was utterly unthinkable. He got her settled sitting on the bed next to him, on his uninjured side, his arm around her.   
  
“Gracie, you know I told you that your mom and Stan had some business to take care of, and that’s why you were staying at Uncle Steve’s until I got out of the hospital?”  
  
“Yeah, Mom said Stan’s gonna have a lot of work out of town for a while.”  
  
“There’s something going on you need to know about, because you’re probably going to be hearing about it on TV, maybe online, or from your friends.”  
  
“What is it?”  
  
“Your mom isn’t out of town on business, monkey.”  
  
“Where is she then?” Grace asked, frowning.  
  
“Remember when I got sick, like I had the flu?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“It wasn’t the flu,” he said, not having any idea how to say what had to be said.  _How do you put a happy spin on the truth that your child’s mother just tried to kill you? Not once, but four times?_  “It was because of the chicken salad.”  
  
“Was it spoiled?” she asked.  
  
“Gracie...your mom put something in it to make me get sick. She wanted so much to have you stay with her, that she thought if I got sick, she’d get to take care of you more of the time, maybe always.”  
  
“She wanted to make you sick on purpose?”  
  
“That’s how it looks, monkey. I’m sorry, honey, I didn’t want you to have to worry about it, but I want you to hear it from me first. You can ask me whatever you want.”  
  
“But...that’s so... _mean,”_  she said. “I didn’t want to move away,” she said, shaking her head.  
  
“I know, Grace. I didn’t want you to go anywhere, either.”  
  
“If Mommy won in court, you wouldn’t have tried to hurt her,” she said. The fact she said it with such conviction, without it being a question, moved Danny deeply. Even learning that her mother had just tried to poison her father, her faith in Danny’s character seemed unshaken. Or maybe it had to be for her to handle the whole situation.  
  
“No, I wouldn’t have. I’ll always care about your mom because without her, I wouldn’t have you.”  
  
“Who am I gonna live with? Is Mommy going to jail?”  
  
“You’re gonna live with me,” Danny said.  
  
“And me, if that’s okay,” Steve spoke up, grinning. Danny looked at Steve, and he knew what he was offering. For them to be a family, to move into his larger house that was right on the beach...a great place for a kid to grow up.  
  
“What would you think about us living at Uncle Steve’s?”  
  
“Really?” she asked.  
  
“If it’s okay with you, kiddo,” Steve said, smiling at her.  
  
“Yeah, I’d like that. Your mom’s really nice, too.” Then her expression darkened. “Is Mommy going to jail?” she asked again.  
  
“Not right away, monkey, but she probably will have to for a while.”  
  
“Where’s Charlie gonna live?”  
  
“Probably with Stan. When I’m a little better, Step-Stan and I will have a talk about making sure you and Charlie get to spend time together, maybe times when he can come and stay with us for a while, like you used to go back and forth between me and your mom.”  
  
“I could babysit for Charlie sometimes,” she said.  
  
“I bet Stan would appreciate that. You’ll be a big help to him if your mom’s away for a while. Big sisters are important. I know, because your aunts were my big sisters, and I love them a lot.”  
  
“You said they played tricks on you,” she said, grinning.  
  
“Yeah, they did,” he admitted, laughing. “I played one or two on them, too, so we’re probably even.”  
  
“Is she the one who shot you?” Grace asked.  
  
“No, that was someone else,” he said. He didn’t know how to make the truth pretty, how to tell her that her mother arranged to have him gunned down when the poisoning didn’t work.   
  
“Was it a friend of hers?” she asked. Danny looked at Steve, but before Steve could open his mouth and be put on the spot to answer her, Danny told her the truth.  
  
“Yes, it was.”  
  
“Can I see Mommy?”  
  
Danny should have expected that question. It was reasonable, though given what Rachel was accused of, he wouldn’t let Grace near her unsupervised if he had to get up out of his hospital bed and wheel his IV along with him to watch over her himself.  
  
“Sure, monkey. We’ll work something out.”  
  
“I just want to tell her goodbye,” she said, turning and hiding her face against Danny. He hugged her, ignoring the pain that flared around his wounds at the movement.   
  
“If you want to visit your mom, even if she goes to jail, we’ll make sure you can get there whenever it’s possible, okay?” Danny said, hoping that would console her. Steve had moved his chair closer and rested his hand on Grace’s back, his other hand on Danny’s arm. Danny drew strength from the fact that Steve clearly intended to take care of their wounded little family, and he was in this for the duration.   
  
“You don’t understand,” Grace said tearfully. “I just want to tell her goodbye. Forever.”  
  
“You don’t have to decide anything right now, Gracie. It’s a lot...we’ve got a lot to work out and it’s okay if you still want to visit your mom sometimes.”  
  
“No, I don’t!” she protested. “I hate her!” she yelled.  
  
“Baby, you don’t mean that,” Danny said gently.   
  
“Yes I do! You almost died!” she said, wiping at her eyes, still crying.   
  
“But I didn’t, honey. I’m still here. It’s gonna be okay.”  
  
“I’m angry, too, Gracie,” Steve said. “What your mom did was wrong, and awful, and there’s no good way to say that. She’s still your mom, and if you ever decide you want to see her, Danno and I will make sure you can.”  
  
“I don’t!” she sobbed into Danny’s shoulder.   
  
“I’m so sorry, baby,” Danny muttered, holding her close, crying with her. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”  
  
He was grateful that Steve found a way to sit on the bed and get both of them in kind of an awkward three-way embrace. Danny was more devastated by what this was doing to Grace than he would have been at being hit with a dozen bullets. Part of him felt guilty because he’d dreamed of what it would be like to have sole custody, be a full-time father again, and now he was, and Grace was miserable and the divorce and the fighting had finally managed to ruin her life.   
  
“This isn’t your fault, Danno,” Steve whispered in his ear.   
  
“I should’ve just stopped fighting her and moved to Vegas, I guess,” he said, barely able to get the words out.   
  
“No, she shouldn’t have done what she did. Period. Don’t share the blame for this, because it’s not your fault. Any part of it. We’ll be okay, Danno, I promise,” he said softly, rubbing Danny’s shoulder. Danny had to believe in that, in Steve, to stay sane. He had no clue how anything could be all right again when he’d had to inflict such pain on his daughter.  
  
********  
  
Steve found it ironic that Rachel had managed to get out of jail before Danny got out of the hospital, but about a week after the shooting, Steve was finally able to collect his partner and bring him home. Avoiding the media harassment to get Danny out of the hospital and back to the McGarrett house was nothing short of a strategic op, but thanks to a service elevator and a back exit, they managed.   
  
Doris agreed to stay on awhile to help cover things with Grace while Danny was still recuperating. She had admitted to Steve she liked spending time with Grace, that it reminded her of being with Mary when she was younger. And, since they were trying to shield Grace from unscrupulous reporters who might try to approach her or photograph her, Doris was better qualified than the average babysitter to protect her. She hadn’t exactly offered to help take care of Danny as well, but Steve didn’t give that much thought. He’d make sure Danny was taken care of, and Grace was more than capable of waiting on him a little until he could get up and down as much as usual and take care of himself.   
  
The dining room/office was cleaned up and turned into a bedroom. Steve brought his bed downstairs and set it up there, fully intending to share the quarters with Danny until they could move together up to the master bedroom.   
  
Danny had about two weeks yet of rest before a follow up doctor’s appointment to evaluate him for physical therapy. He was able to move, but lifting his arm on his injured side more than about halfway was excruciating yet, and anything beyond very slow, moderate movement seemed insurmountable. As much as his physical limitations, Steve was concerned about Danny’s emotional state. He seemed withdrawn and depressed, only managing some minimal signs of his old energy and personality for Grace. Steve initially felt a little left out when Danny didn’t really muster the same enthusiasm for him, but he could see that Danny was leaning on him and not hiding anything from him. He wasn’t putting on a happy front for him. So in a way, Steve treasured that openness and lack of pretense. Danny needed him and he had every intention of being there and supporting him every step of the way.  
  
It was a breezy, overcast day and Danny was sitting in a lounge chair not far from the beach, staring out at the ocean. Now that he was in pain most of the time, his insomnia had kicked in full force, so Steve had hoped getting him comfortable in the chair would lead to him napping. That was not to be.  
  
“How’s your pain?” Steve asked, sitting in the lawn chair he set next to the lounge chair. Danny shrugged, then winced.  
  
“Keep forgetting I can’t do that,” he said, sighing. “Lousy. This isn’t getting better, Steven,” he said softly.  
  
“It will.”  
  
“I’ve done PT before and it’s a bitch, but at least I could feel like there was some hope of getting better from it, that I actually could do the exercises or stretching or whatever if I just worked through the pain. I couldn’t stretch my arm up in the air if my life depended on it.”  
  
“First off, your life doesn’t depend on it, and second, you’re not supposed to be stretching anything yet. The doctor’s going to evaluate you for therapy when he sees you in another ten days or so.  _Evaluate_  you. Which means you might not be ready to start therapy then, so you sure as hell aren’t ready now.”  
  
“Grace is miserable.”  
  
“I know this is hard for her, but she seems to be coping.”  
  
“Yeah, she’s coping. She’s a tough kid who’s had to live with her fucked up parents’ fucked up relationship for years now.”  
  
“She’s not exactly an underprivileged child who’s suffered neglect and abuse, Danny. She’s had a very stable life with parents who loved her and have consistently made sure she had every advantage. I’m not talking about money,” he said, holding up his hand. “She’s had that, too, but she’s always been in a good school, in a safe, decent home, and she’s always been loved. This is a tragic situation, but you didn’t cause it.”  
  
“I can’t fix it for her.”  
  
“I know, Danno.” Steve was quiet a few minutes. “She’s getting older, that’s gonna happen sometimes.”  
  
“She’s ten, Steve. That’s not ‘older’. She’s still a little girl and she oughtta be playing with dolls and riding her bike, not worrying about why her mother tried to kill her father. I just wish we could’ve let it go.”  
  
“Why? So Rachel could keep trying until she got it right?”  
  
“If she knew we were onto her, she wouldn’t have tried it again. And she’d never hurt Grace.”  
  
“Well, we can’t do that. It’s out of our hands and with the DA.” Steve reached over and took Danny’s hand. “I love you.”  
  
“I know, but I don’t know why.” Steve could see Danny’s eyes were filling and he looked away, blinking.   
  
“For the same reasons I did before you got shot.”  
  
“I was considerably more flexible before I got shot.”  
  
“Yeah, that’s true, Danny, because the only reason I loved you for the last three years is because we were fucking each other every day. Jesus, Danny. I don’t know how to help you.”  
  
“Then just leave me alone.” He kept his face turned away from Steve, even though he hadn’t taken his hand back. “It would have been easier for everybody if I’d just died like I was supposed to. Grace would have a normal life and you wouldn’t be stuck with an invalid.”  
  
“It wouldn’t have been easier for me,” Steve said, angry at the words and yet understanding how Danny felt at the same time. “I don’t want to live without you picking at me all the time,” he said, squeezing Danny’s hand. He was glad that made Danny snort, though he didn’t look at him. “Grace adores her dad, Danno. She wouldn’t have bounced back like you think she would. I know what it’s like to lose a parent, even if she wasn’t really dead...the point is, I thought she was, and it was awful. Grace is younger than I was when Doris pulled her disappearing act. You can’t really believe that you dying and her living with Rachel and Stan is a better thing for her. If you believed that, you wouldn’t have moved 5,000 miles to be near her.”  
  
“Yeah, well, that wasn’t all selfless. I couldn’t stand being without her, so here I am.”  
  
“Stan seems like a decent guy, and I don’t think he had any part in this, so I’m glad she has a nice stepfather but it’s not a substitute for the real one.” Steve paused to check his phone as it rang. Not recognizing the number, he answered it. “McGarrett.”  
  
“Steve, this is Mike Sterling,” he said. It was the district attorney. “I’m at your front door, but no one’s answering. I need to speak with you.”  
  
“Danny and I are out back, by the beach, if you want to come out here.”  
  
“Great. I should really speak with both of you anyway.” He broke the connection, and Steve looked at Danny.   
  
“Sorry, Danno. DA’s here.”  
  
“Yeah, okay,” Danny rubbed his eyes a moment and straightened his stature in the lounge chair with a wince. Once Sterling was seated and had refused an offer of a cold drink, he got right to the point.  
  
“I’m considering offering Rachel Edwards a deal, and a fairly attractive one at that.”  
  
“What? Why?” Steve asked, stunned. He wasn’t sure how much better their case could be short of a confession.  
  
“William Richmond is one of the best criminal trial lawyers in the country, and he’s living up to his reputation. Plus, Rachel is a little more ruthless than I thought.”  
  
“Trying to kill me four times didn’t give you that impression?” Danny asked.  
  
“It did, but her defense is based on her implicating her husband, Stan, as the killer.”  
  
“That’s original. Is Stan stupid enough to be on board with this?” Steve asked.  
  
“Not by a longshot. Apparently he tried to have her thrown out of the family home and to take sole custody of the boy, but she’s put another claim out there that has harpooned that effort pretty effectively, and also bolstered her claim that he’s the one who wanted you dead,” he said to Danny.  
  
“What’s that?” Danny asked.  
  
“She’s claiming now that you’re the father of her son, Charles, as well as Grace, and that when she told Stan, he was almost uncontrollably enraged. With no biological claim to the child, if that proves to be true, he won’t get custody away from her.” Sterling paused. Steve felt a cold chill run down his spine. It was something he’d always half suspected, but Danny trusted Rachel’s word, and he’d respected that. Danny looked like what little color he had was gone, and he stared at Sterling as if he couldn’t form a reply. “Is that a possibility?” Sterling asked.  
  
“Rachel and I reconciled for a while, and we were going to leave Hawaii, move back to Jersey,” Danny said. “Initially she said he was mine, but then she told me her timing was off and he was Stan’s, and she decided to try to save her marriage. Is anybody doing any tests to verify what she’s saying? Because if not, I’m calling my lawyer. I want him tested.”  
  
“I have a call in to the family court judge handling the case.”  
  
“So just her pointing a finger and saying Stan did it is sufficient to offer her a good deal?” Steve asked.  
  
“Here’s their story. Rachel claims that Stan was really very angry about the whole custody thing, and that commuting between here and Vegas was going to cost him a lot of money and cause him a lot of inconvenience, possibly even jeopardize one of his projects. He frequently made remarks, according to her, like ‘I wanna kill that son of a bitch’ or ‘maybe if we’re lucky someone will shoot the bastard in the line of duty’. She claims she never hired Shemanski, that she barely spoke to him on a few occasions when he was doing handyman work for them - jobs Stan hired him to do, not her. She said Stan knew whenever she made the chicken salad for you because he liked it, too, and she always made enough to take you some, and she would put it in a separate container. He could have just as easily added the diazinon himself, and she would have had no way of knowing about it when she took it to you.”  
  
“That’s all a load of bullshit,” Danny said. “You know that, right?”  
  
“I’m inclined to believe it’s a load of bullshit, but all we need for an acquittal is reasonable doubt, and presenting the jury with another plausible suspect who had motive, means, and opportunity creates just that. People will see a pretty, cultured, innocent-looking mother of two dabbing at her eyes on the witness stand while she talks about her irate husband reacting to her indiscretion and the prospect of losing money because of the custody issues with her ex, not to mention the whole paternity thing? That’s a huge helping of reasonable doubt. If I were her attorney, I’d advise her to refuse a deal and gamble on going to trial. She could easily walk out of there a free woman.”  
  
“She almost killed Danny herself, and then she hired someone else to close the deal when she didn’t make it work on her own. How is there doubt about that?”  
  
“Stan could have poisoned the food, and hired the hit man. Shemanski is a small-time criminal who’s always going to have trouble getting and holding a decent job, so not only did he have plenty to gain from lying, if that’s what Stan told him to do, but his credibility is pretty shaky anyway. He’s got just as much motive, and a jury will have a lot less trouble believing that the current husband could want to off the ex-husband, especially if he found out about the paternity issue when she claims he did - before all this happened. Stan has lawyered up, but I’m sure he’ll claim he knew nothing about that until now.”  
  
“You sound like you believe her,” Danny said.  
  
“I think she did this, but I think she has a great lawyer, and they’ve come up with a hell of a story that does cast reasonable doubt. It’s plausible and a lot less far-fetched than some of the alternative theories that have gotten people acquitted.”  
  
“What kind of deal did you have in mind?” Danny asked.  
  
“It would have to be minimal prison time, possibly minimum security. Five years, for assault in the second degree, and we take the attempted murder and conspiracy charges off the table.”  
  
“That’s fucking ridiculous,” Steve said. “She’d be paroled in a year, and you know it.”  
  
“If she’s acquitted, she’s innocent in the eyes of the law, and she can never be retried for any of this. She’ll have full parental rights and there’s no lawful reason to deny her shared custody of her children. If she’s convicted of trying to grossly injure the children’s father, you could make a good case for only supervised visitation  _after_  she’s released from prison.”  
  
"I have to think about the kids here, Steve," Danny said. "Do you need my okay to do this, or are you gonna do it anyway?" he asked Sterling.  
  
"We can go to trial. We have a good case. All I'm saying is that she's got a good defense and a high-powered lawyer, and right now I'd call the chances about a draw. We can move forward with jury selection and continue the investigation in the meantime. If we find something that bolsters our case, that'll help. If not, well, we either roll the dice or we cut a deal."  
  
"I don't care about what happened to me. It's not like it's going to reverse any of it if she goes to prison. I care about Grace and Charlie, whether he's my kid or not. If she walks...and she's got full rights..."  
  
"What about a civil suit? Sue her for damages," Steve added. "A court finding her most likely responsible for Danny's injuries would help a custody case, wouldn't it?"  
  
"That's not my area of law, but I'm sure it could help. Still, you're most likely not going to get a court to terminate her parental rights if she hasn't been convicted. You may not achieve that even if she has, unless she cooperates."  
  
"What if she was offered no jail time in return for signing away her parental rights?" Danny asked.  
  
"It's been done before, though typically in cases where the children involved were being abused or were in danger of it."  
  
"If you can make that part of the plea bargain, offer whatever you have to. I just want my daughter to be safe, and whether Charlie's mine or Stan's, he should be with one of us and not Rachel."  
  
"A big part of getting her to avoid a trial would be sparing your daughter all the dirt that would be aired in one. If we're asking her to sign away her rights at the same time, I'm not sure she'll do it."  
  
"She was willing to kill me to make her life better. I can't believe it would be that big of a stretch to give up rights to her kids in order to avoid prison."  
  
"Let me give it some thought. Zero prison time is pretty lenient, even if she wouldn't sign away her rights."  
  
"I don't care about that. Putting her in prison is about revenge, and that would feel real good right about now, but it's not the important thing here."  
  
"We can offer her a vastly reduced sentence with that as a stipulation. If she refuses, we could at that point reduce or eliminate the actual time behind bars. If she takes a deal with some prison time, we can consider it a win."  
  
"It's safe to say that even if she's convicted, it doesn't automatically terminate her parental rights," Steve said.  
  
"No, it doesn't, and it's possible she could insist on visitation with the kids. What a judge would do about that depends on the judge, and how genuine she is - or appears to be - in terms of remorse and also the likelihood of her posing any danger to them.”  
  
“Rachel’s been a good mother. Until this, obviously, but she’d never directly hurt one of her children,” Danny said.  
  
“I’ll find out where things stand with the paternity test on Charlie and let you know. You’ll probably want to have your own lawyer represent you on pursuing that if one isn’t being done anyway to substantiate her claims.” He stood. “You’ve given me a lot to think about,” he added. “It’s always important to me to know where the victims stand in regard to plea deals,” he said, heading back toward the house. Steve fell into step with him to walk him out.   
  
After Sterling left, Steve returned to where Danny was sitting.  
  
“You didn’t sign on for this, Steve,” he said quietly.  
  
“For what?”  
  
“A disabled partner and two kids.”  
  
“You’re not disabled. And if they’re your kids, they’re family. We’ll be fine. I already love Gracie like she’s my own, so all we’re talking about is Charlie, and the idea of having a son isn’t altogether unappealing,” Steve teased, sitting on the end of Danny’s lounge chair near his legs. “I know it sucks being laid up, but if you find out Charlie’s yours, and with the adjustment Grace is going through, it wouldn’t be all bad for you to have some time to be with the kids. You can be working out and doing your PT, and when you feel back to full speed and the doctor okays it, you’ll be back to work.”  
  
“I guess I don’t want you to feel stuck with me. If you change your mind, or this isn’t what you want...”  
  
“Move over and shut up, Danno,” Steve said, waiting for Danny to carefully move himself over in the lounge chair so Steve could sit in it with him, holding him. “You and two beautiful kids. I can live with that,” he said, resting his head against Danny’s. “We’ll be okay, no matter how any of this turns out.”  
  
“If Charlie’s mine...I’ve missed almost two years of his life.”  
  
“I suppose if she’d try to kill you, the idea she’d lie isn’t much of a shock. At least you were there when he was born, even if you couldn’t enjoy it the way you should have.”  
  
“I barely know him. I almost never see him.”  
  
“I don’t want to be a wet blanket, but don’t get your hopes up too much. She might be bluffing.”  
  
“She knows it’s easy enough to check. There’d be no point in bluffing about it now.”   
  



	9. Tainted Love, Chapter Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny's bout with a strange illness ultimately brings Steve and Danny closer, until an unexpected crisis threatens their future. See Chapter One for Notes.

Steve convinced Danny to take his pain medication and get into bed early to let it do its work. He knew that probably meant that Danny would have some sleepless hours later, but if he was looking for a partner with a normal sleep schedule, Danny wouldn’t be a logical choice anyway. He sat on the couch staring at the television, not really paying attention to what was on it.   
  
“You look tired,” Doris said, sitting next to him on the couch.   
  
“How’s Grace?”  
  
“She’s asleep,” she said. “I’m a poor substitute for Danny, but I told her a bedtime story since he was sleeping.”  
  
“Something else he’ll feel guilty about when he wakes up. That the hour-long nap he agreed to is now in its fourth hour.”  
  
“It’s not his fault his ex tried to off him,” she said.  
  
“He didn’t want to have any charges brought against Rachel because of what it would do to Grace,” he said. At Doris’s shocked expression, he added, “She’s always his number one priority. He’d rather let the woman who tried to kill him off the hook than upset Grace’s life like this.”  
  
Doris looked at Steve for a long moment. “I did what I thought was best for you and Mary. You would have never been safe with me here.”  
  
“Never occurred to you to get out of the spy business when you had kids, huh?”  
  
“No, frankly, it didn’t. Now that you’re going to be raising two of them with Danny, are the two of you going to quit your dangerous jobs and do something safer?”  
  
“Touche,” Steve muttered, smiling faintly. “Danny might not have a choice. He’s not doing so great.”  
  
“He’s depressed, Steve. Anybody can see that. He brightens up a little for Grace’s sake, but he’s taking this very hard and he’s not really fighting for his recovery. I don’t know Danny well, but I do know that he’s a shadow of the man who told me off within a few minutes of meeting me.”  
  
“Rachel tried to kill him, and what was left of his soul after that was pretty much eaten away when he had to figure a way to explain this situation to Grace and destroy her life. At least, that’s what he feels he did.”  
  
“Rachel did that.”  
  
“I know. You’re preaching to the choir. I put the blame for all this shit squarely on her. But Danny...he feels guilty for living and making everything so unpleasant for everyone.”  
  
“I thought maybe finding out he was Charlie’s father would cheer him up.”  
  
“That hasn’t been confirmed yet, and even if he is, it means he lost all this time with him, and even though he was there when Charlie was born, he couldn’t rejoice about witnessing the birth of his son. He thought he was Stan’s.”  
  
“That poor guy’s life just went down the crapper,” Doris said, leaning back and crossing her legs.   
  
“Danny wants them to offer Rachel no jail time in return for signing away her parental rights.”  
  
“They won’t do that, will they?”  
  
“I don’t know. The DA isn’t confident we can win...her story is too credible and she’s too unlikely of a killer.”  
  
“Oh, please. It’s an insult to women to assume they’re too dainty to kill someone.”  
  
“I don’t know as feminists will want to put that on t-shirts anytime soon, but point made.”  
  
“Have you heard from Catherine since you told her?”  
  
“No. I don’t really expect to. She was pretty angry.”  
  
“You know, Steve, this isn’t going to be the same as what it was when you first hooked up with Danny. There are two children involved now, and he might not be able to go back to work.”  
  
“So?”  
  
“Do you want to be a married father of two with a depressed, disabled partner?”  
  
“I can’t believe you’d ask me that,” Steve said, angry, standing up. “I think I’ll go look in on my depressed, disabled partner.”  
  
“Steve, come on, sit down. I’m not saying you shouldn’t stand by Danny or still marry him if that’s what you want to do. I’m your mother and I care about you and you don’t seem happy either.”   
  
“Someone tried to kill Danny. He’s in constant pain, you said yourself he’s depressed, I don’t know if he’ll be able to go back to active duty, Grace is confused and fucked up in the head, and Rachel might walk with no jail time. You’re right, I’m not happy!” he shot back. “Dumping Danny isn’t going to fix that. Deserting my family isn’t going to make things better,” he added, storming out of the room and trying to temper his movements to be quiet as he slipped into the makeshift bedroom in the dining room. Danny was still asleep, and Steve carefully stretched out on the bed next to him.   
  
“Hey,” a gravelly voice greeted him.  
  
“Sorry I woke you up.”  
  
“What’s wrong, babe?” Danny asked, reaching toward him. He took the questing hand in his and held onto it.   
  
“Nothing special. Doris just...gets on my nerves sometimes.”  
  
“Mothers do that.”  
  
“All of a sudden she’s decided to be one and thinks that gives her the right to say shit she has no business saying.”  
  
“What happened?” Danny asked, frowning. Then it was as if realization dawned. “Run while you still can from the sick partner and his two kids?”  
  
“You overheard that, huh?”  
  
“No, but I don’t have to. She’s looking out for you.”  
  
“I can’t believe you’re defending her.”  
  
“I’m not, exactly, but she probably thinks that getting stuck with all this isn’t what you had in mind when you first got together with me.”  
  
“I just want you, Danny. Whatever that comes with, I’m up for it.”  
  
“I love you.”  
  
“I love you, too, Danno.”  
  
“It’s gonna be okay, babe,” Danny said softly, touching Steve’s cheek.   
  
“I should be telling you that.”  
  
“You do, all the time. Maybe I finally believe it,” he added, smiling.   
  
********  
  
Steve went out for a swim early the next morning, and Danny began the painful process of getting up, showered, and dressed for the day. He knew Steve would want to help him, and the lazy part of him wanted Steve to just do everything while he sat there and whined about his pain, but he also knew that wasn’t the way to get on the road to recovery. He regretted his ambition a few times while he was trying to reach something to wash, or putting his t-shirt over his head, but he got through it and ended up in a t-shirt, shorts, and flip flops without killing himself. By the time he went to the kitchen, Doris was up making coffee.  
  
“Good morning,” she said, smiling. “Coffee?”  
  
“Yeah, sounds good, thanks,” Danny said, sitting at the table. She poured him a cup and set it in front of him. “You take milk in yours, right?”  
  
“Yeah, thanks.”   
  
She set the carton of milk on the table and started gathering supplies to make breakfast.   
  
“Eggs okay?” she asked.  
  
“You don’t have to make me breakfast. I can get something for myself.”  
  
“I’m making eggs anyway, Danny. I think I can crack a couple more without breaking a sweat.”  
  
“Okay, then, sure. Sounds good,” he said, smiling. “Thanks again for all the time you’re spending with Grace. I can’t really take her anywhere and last night...the pain meds knocked me out.”  
  
“Grace is a great kid. Besides, I haven’t forgotten all my mom skills,” she added. Then she paused. “No snappy retort?”  
  
“About what?”  
  
“It’s no secret how you feel about my track record as Steve’s mother,” she said, going back to the egg scrambling project.  
  
“It’s no secret how you feel about Steve suddenly being saddled with a sick partner and a couple of kids, either.”  
  
“Ouch. Steve took that out of context, and he also took it the wrong way.”  
  
“He didn’t repeat what you said. He was upset and I figured it out.”  
  
“Well, this is awkward,” she said, putting some bread in the toaster.  
  
“Not really, because I’ve said the same thing to him. When we started this kind of a relationship, I was a single father with partial custody of one ten-year-old. Now, I might be adding a toddler into the mix, maybe full custody of one or both of them. And who knows how this recovery is gonna go. I’m real proud of myself for putting my own shirt on this morning.”  
  
“I never meant to imply to Steve that he shouldn’t stay with you if that’s what he wants. I know it sounds bad, but he’s my son, and I just wanted to be sure he’s in this for the right reasons.”  
  
“Not because he feels obligated,” Danny said, taking a drink of his coffee. “Yeah, I know. I thought about that, too.”  
  
“Steve’s been single a long time, and now to have a spouse and two children when a few weeks ago he didn’t have any of that...I just want him to be happy.”  
  
“So do I, and I’m coming to the conclusion that Steve’s a big boy who knows what he wants to do. I’ve given him every chance to bail on me without having to feel guilty about it, and he’s still here. He loves Grace like she was his own daughter, and he’s already almost as excited as I am that Charlie might wind up with us, too. Maybe it doesn’t matter to him if this is supposed to be what he wants. He wants it, and that’s what matters.”  
  
“I can’t argue with that logic, I suppose,” she said, smiling faintly. “I want him to be happy, and if he’s found that with you and your kids, then I’m glad for him.”  
  
“I don’t know yet that Charlie’s mine.”  
  
“But you have a pretty strong instinct about it, don’t you?” she asked. Danny hadn’t thought about it that way, but she was right. It was probably that old animal instinct deep inside that makes a father recognize his own offspring.  
  
“I hope that’s what it is and not wishful thinking.”  
  
“I smell food,” Steve said, coming in the back door. He looked uneasy that Danny and Doris were there alone together, talking. “You’re dressed. I could have given you a hand when I got back.”  
  
“I gotta start moving sometime. It only took me an hour to put on my t-shirt.” At Steve’s stricken expression, Danny laughed. “I’m kidding. More like 45 minutes,” he teased, laughing.   
  
“Smart ass,” he said, leaning over to kiss Danny. “Remind me again what I see in you,” he said.   
  
“You want me to do that in front of your mother?” Danny asked, winking at him.  
  
“I’m gonna grab a quick shower. Save me some eggs.”  
  
“Danno!” Grace greeted happily, hugging him like she hadn’t seen him in days. Since he’d been home from the hospital, he usually wasn’t up and dressed before she went to school in the morning.  
  
“Hey, monkey. Sorry I missed your bedtime last night.”  
  
“You need your rest,” she said seriously.  
  
“Yes, I do, but I feel better this morning,” he said, and she smiled widely.   
  
“You do?”  
  
“I was thinking maybe I’d ride along with Uncle Steve while he takes you to school.”  
  
“Is that okay with the doctor?”  
  
“I’m not supposed to drive yet, but she didn’t say I couldn’t ride. Uncle Steve never lets me drive anyway, so what’s the difference?” That made her giggle.   
  
After breakfast, Grace hopped in the back seat of the Camaro and Steve hovered around Danny as he carefully got into the car, not twisting his healing body too fast. Insisting he could handle his own seatbelt, he shooed Steve away to get in the car himself. They dropped Grace off at school and Danny was confused when Steve started off on a route other than back to the house.   
  
“Where are you going?” he asked.  
  
“For a drive.”  
  
“A drive? You drive all the time. How could you want to drive more?” Danny waited for an answer, but Steve just looked at him with a big stupid grin on his face. “What?”  
  
“You’re back where you’re supposed to be. I just want to enjoy it for a while.”  
  
“Does feel kinda good, doesn’t it?” Danny agreed, smiling.  
  
“You seem like you feel better this morning.”  
  
“Maybe a little. Maybe I decided to get off my sorry, self-pitying ass and start living again. Rachel didn’t kill me, and if I let her ruin my life, it’s my own damn fault.” If he were being honest, it was for Steve and Grace that he'd had his upswing in attitude. He still couldn't picture being the man he was before the shooting - fit, strong, brave, flexible - but making Steve and Grace suffer through more of his self-doubt and self-pity seemed unthinkable. Maybe he'd never fully realized until now just how important his well-being was to both of them.   
  
“That’s great, partner. You’re gonna make it back. I can feel it.”  
  
“Well, this morning I got my t-shirt over my head by myself. I guess it’s one step at a time before I’m tackling perps again,” he said, snorting.  
  
“Yeah, but, Danno, you took that first step and you’re riding shotgun with me. I’m just gonna enjoy that for now.” Steve held out his hand, palm up to hold hands, but Danny refused it.  
  
“The way you drive, you need both of them for the wheel,” he retorted, and Steve laughed out loud at that. Danny smiled. It had been way too long since he'd heard that sound.  
  
********  
  
No one objected to having a paternity test done on Charlie. Rachel's defense paid for it, since she was the one initiating the claim that Stan wasn't his biological father, and her assertion that he'd found that out shortly before the attempts on Danny's life strengthened the defense's position. Even though Danny hoped for the test to prove Charlie was his, he knew how it felt to be on the losing end of that situation, and Stan had never been an adversary to Danny. He was a good stepfather to Grace and, as far as Danny knew, he'd been a good father to Charlie. He bankrolled Rachel's various custody vendettas over the years, but he'd never personally seemed to hold any real animosity toward Danny. And, as far as Charlie knew, Stan was Daddy. Though he was young enough to make the adjustment more smoothly than he would be in another couple of years, there was still a bond there, and Danny didn't see a reason to destroy that.  
  
"I was surprised when you called and asked to see me," Stan said, sitting in one of the two chairs by the water at Steve's place.   
  
"I'd have come myself but I'm still not supposed to drive."  
  
"For how much longer?"  
  
"I see the doctor again in a couple days. He'll let me know if I can start PT, and also if I can at least drive again. Not that Steve minds. I have to fight him for the car keys anyway," Danny joked. "The reason I wanted to talk to you was so that before any test results come back, I could say what I have to say. For what it's worth, I think Rachel's full of shit and you didn't have anything to do with this."  
  
"I didn't. But thanks."  
  
"Even if Charlie turns out to be my son, I'll work with you about custody and visitation. I know that you've been good to Grace, and that she loves you as her stepfather, and I don't see a reason to shut you out of her life, either."  
  
"That's generous of you, Danny. I know we haven't always treated you the same way," Stan said, sighing. "You know, I never had anything against you, but having the family together and having the choice of where to live or when we went on vacation or how long we could be gone...it was a nice thought, and Rachel was always ready to push things to the next level with getting more and more control over Grace's living situation... I'm sorry we did some of the shit we did when you first got to Hawaii. I didn't expect you to follow us here."  
  
"Neither did Rachel," Danny said, looking out at the ocean. "I guess it got to her, finally."  
  
"You're being easier on me than we were on you, that's for sure."  
  
"Maybe you have to be on the wrong side of something for a while to really 'get it'. I know what it's like to have my daughter literally pulled out of my arms at an airport so her mother could take her 5,000 miles away from me." Danny swallowed hard. "Rachel threatened me with airport security if I didn't let go of Grace so they could board the plane when they left Jersey for the last time. I thought my guts were being ripped out. I can't do that to somebody else."  
  
"You're asking Rachel to give up her parental rights."  
  
"She tried to kill me and she let my daughter have access to poisoned food. If I'd died from one of those attempts, Grace would have lived with the fact she gave me the stuff that killed me. Rachel signed away her rights as a mother when she did that. This is just the legal paperwork." Danny sighed. "If she's convicted, I'll keep her in court the rest of her life - at least, whatever part of it isn't spent in prison - to keep those kids away from her. It would be easier on all of us, especially Grace and Charlie, if she'd just back off now."  
  
"When you run out of money, let me know. If it's about keeping custody of the kids away from Rachel, I'm in."  
  
"Seriously?"  
  
"Look, Danny, you could be an asshole about this but you're not. I think we both want what's best for Grace and Charlie." Stan paused. "It wouldn't be a huge shock to find out my blue-eyed blond son is yours. He doesn't look anything like my side of the family, and he doesn't look like Rachel, either. He looks like you. Deep down, I think I always suspected it, but I wanted to believe he was mine, so I did. At the end of the day, I'm a businessman. You have biology on your side, I have money. Between the two of us, if we can work out a reasonable arrangement that's good for the kids, Rachel doesn't stand a chance in hell for custody."  
  
"I've talked to the DA about the possibility of a deal with Rachel that wouldn't include prison time so I could get her to sign away her rights."  
  
“You’d be okay with that?”  
  
“Okay is probably the wrong word, but I could live with it to save the kids a lot of ongoing custody battles and visitation issues. Grace needs to move on with her life, and be free to decide how much contact, if any, she still wants with her mother. Charlie deserves a stable childhood without being yanked back and forth. Her family’s got money...this could drag on in the courts through most of the kids’ childhoods.”  
  
“That’s true.”  
  
“I can’t believe she’ll agree to it, but it’s worth a shot.”  
  
“To avoid prison? I think you’re giving her too much credit. I think she’d jump at it. But then, she’s trying to save her hide by pinning everything on me, so I might not be the best one to ask about her character right now.”  
  
********  
  
Danny was cleared to start physical therapy after his doctor visit. He was healing well, all things considered, and it was safe for him to begin some mild stretching and range of motion exercises to start getting his flexibility back on his injured side. The first couple sessions took a lot out of him, and he was glad to just sit in the passenger seat and let Steve do the driving. He was also glad to steal him away from work for a while. Even though Steve was around with Danny at home after hours, he missed being on the job himself and didn’t like Steve being out on the streets without him for back up. While he was mulling all that over, his phone rang. He tensed up when he heard his lawyer’s voice on the line.  
  
“We have the test results in on Charlie,” he said.   
  
“Well?” Danny prodded, and Steve was watching him out of the corner of his eye. He put the phone on speaker. “You’re on speaker,” he said. “Steve’s with me.”  
  
“He’s your son, Danny. Congratulations. I’m drawing up the necessary papers now for custody. You want custody of your son, right?”  
  
“Yes, I want custody of my son,” Danny replied, smiling at Steve, who was giving him a thumbs up. “When you have the papers served on Stan, don’t send anybody out there to get Charlie. Just tell Stan to call me, and we’ll talk about how to do this. I know Charlie’s too little to figure it all out yet, but I don’t want to freak him out.”  
  
“Edwards has a lot of resources, Danny,” the attorney said. “Are you positive you can trust him not to take off with Charlie if you give him that leeway?”   
  
“He’s not going anywhere. He already suspected Charlie was mine, so he’s had plenty of time to make a run for it if he wanted to.”  
  
“We’ll put surveillance on the house,” Steve said quietly. Before Danny could protest that, Steve added, “just as a precaution. People can do some weird things when they get emotional and it comes to actually handing over a kid.”  
  
“Okay. I guess you heard that,” he said to the lawyer.  
  
“Yes, and it’s a great idea. We’ll get the legalities squared away. You just worry about fixing up a room for your son.”  
  
“I’m on it,” Danny said, smiling. After he hung up the phone, he sighed. “I should have known she was lying.”  
  
“Rachel really didn’t let you spend much time with Charlie. It seems like he was never around when either one of us picked up Grace for anything. I don’t think I ever saw him up close.”  
  
“I’ve only seen him a couple times. He looks like my side of the family, that’s probably why. Sturdy little blue-eyed blond kid.”  
  
“Just like his daddy,” Steve agreed, smiling.   
  
“Are you sure you’re okay with this? Instead of just me, you’ve got an instant family.”  
  
“Yeah, I know,” Steve said, still smiling.  
  
“You’re really happy about this?”  
  
“Yes, Danny, I am. I already love Gracie, and Charlie’s your son, your flesh and blood. I’m gonna love him, too. Our biggest problem is deciding what color to paint the spare room upstairs.”  
  
“And the fact I can’t raise my arm all the way and might not be able to go back on active duty.”  
  
“You’re gonna go back on active duty, Danno. Just be patient.”  
  
“Be patient?  _Be patient?”_  Danny shook his head. “Coming from you that’s almost funny.”  
  
“You’re a real comedian, buddy. This ought to be more incentive to kick that PT up to the next level. You want to be able to pick up your son.”  
  
“I’ll figure out a way to do that, don’t worry,” Danny said, still smiling.   
  
********  
  
About a week after the official papers were drawn up, Danny took custody of Charlie. Though Rachel hadn’t yet agreed to any plea bargains or any deals involving her parental rights, custody of the children had temporarily been granted to Danny, for Grace, and Stan, for Charlie, so the actual handoff of Charlie to Danny involved Stan, not Rachel.   
  
Steve drove them in the truck to pick up Charlie from Stan. Grace sat silently in the back seat next to the baby seat, a sullen expression on her face. Nobody expected her to be cheerful given the fact a large portion of her family had fallen apart and been rearranged, and her mother was about to go on trial for attempted murder, but Danny had hoped the family they were building out of the ruins of that would bring her some happiness. So far, that hadn’t really taken root.  
  
“Here we are,” Steve said, parking the truck and cutting the engine. “You want us to come with you, or you think it’s best to just get Charlie from Stan without a lot of fanfare?”  
  
“I want you guys there,” Danny said. “It’s kind of a big moment,” he added.  
  
“I’ll wait in the car,” Grace said.  
  
“Why?” Danny turned around in the front seat to look at her.   
  
“You don’t need me there.”  
  
“You’re my daughter and Charlie’s big sister. I most certainly do need you there. Why would you say that?”  
  
“You’re just picking up Charlie. What’s the big deal?”   
  
Danny looked at Steve, dumbfounded. Grace was always a fairly happy kid, with a positive attitude. He wasn’t used to seeing her slumped in her seat with her arms crossed over her chest and a sullen look on her face.  
  
“The big deal is your father wants you to do it, so let’s go,” Steve said, unfastening his seat belt. Danny stared at him a moment, then glanced back at Grace, who was also getting ready to get out of the truck now.   
  
“Steve...” Danny began, not sure what he was going to say, but not comfortable with Grace complying because she was told to, versus wanting to be part of the moment.  
  
“Not everything is a negotiation,” Steve said, getting out of the truck. Danny got out, too, and Grace walked along with them, somewhat lethargically. “Perk up a little, kiddo,” he added, touching her shoulder gently. “This is important to your dad," he whispered to her.  
  
Before any of them could knock or ring the bell, the door opened, and a Charlie's nanny, Olivia, stood there, holding him, smiling. She was a friendly older lady dyed blonde hair and glasses who obviously had a lot of affection for her little charge. Stan had offered to continue employing her to provide care for Charlie at least until he started school. Danny was grateful for that; he doubted he could afford a career "nanny" versus a babysitter or daycare program, and with their irregular schedule, keeping some continuity for Charlie would be a challenge once he was back to work. Plus, Doris's presence had never been reliable in Steve's life before, so counting on her to fill in with Grace wasn't realistic.   
  
“Look who’s here, Charlie,” she said, smiling.   
  
“Danno,” Danny said, before she could refer to him as “Daddy” in front of Charlie. “We’ll work on the official title later,” he added, smiling at Olivia. Charlie had met Danny before, but they hadn’t spent a lot of time together. “Can I?” he asked, reaching toward Charlie.  
  
“Of course,” Olivia replied, smiling, handing him over to Danny.   
  
“Hey, buddy,” he said, not noticing Charlie’s weight at all as a burden on his healing body. As he looked into the little boy’s eyes, he got choked up, then asked Steve, “How did I not see it?”  
  
“You trusted Rachel,” he said. “You believed her and so you didn’t look at him the way you’re looking at him now.”  
  
Charlie seemed at ease with Danny, laughing when Danny made faces at him and talked to him.   
  
“I’ve taken an apartment not far from your home. I’m moving tomorrow morning,” Olivia said. “Here’s my card. You can contact me as soon as you’ve decided on the schedule.”  
  
“Great, thank you,” Danny said.   
  
“I’m so glad to still be working with the children. I’ve missed you, Grace,” she said, and Grace smiled, though it was still not her usual level of enthusiasm.   
  
“I guess we can go home, huh?” he asked, and Steve put his arm around Danny and touched the back of Charlie’s blond head.   
  
“Yeah, I think we should get our kids home,” Steve agreed, looking happier than Danny could remember him looking in a long time. He had two kids now and a semi-disabled partner with a dicey future on the job, and Steve looked like he was over the moon.   
  
“Grace, can you help me put Charlie’s things in the car?” Olivia asked. Grace nodded, and they took a couple of small bags while Steve picked up a carton that was sitting in the entry hall that contained some of Charlie’s favorite toys and items from his room.   
  
“Where’s Stan?” Danny asked.  
  
“Mr. Edwards preferred not to be here for...the transfer,” Olivia said. “He said to tell you he’ll be in touch about visitation, and he has some other paperwork and information about Charlie that you’ll want.”  
  
“Okay, great. If you see him before I do, tell him thanks for making this smooth.”  
  
“He wants what’s best for Charlie,” she said, smiling at Charlie as he reached out toward her at the mention of his name. She held his hand for a moment. “I’ll see you tomorrow, honey,” she said, kissing his hand. “He’s such a doll. You have two lovely children, Detective Williams.”  
  
“Danny, please,” he said. “Yeah, I agree - they’re great kids,” he said, sparing a hand from Charlie to touch Grace’s head. “I’ll give you a call soon about setting up the schedule.” 


	10. Tainted Love, Chapter Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny's bout with a strange illness ultimately brings Steve and Danny closer, until an unexpected crisis threatens their future. See Chapter One for Notes.

Steve wasn’t surprised that Danny was more than a little preoccupied with settling Charlie into his new bedroom and that he was spending a long time just sitting by the crib, watching him sleep. Doris was out for the evening, and Steve and Grace had chosen a movie from Netflix.   
  
“I guess we should just go ahead,” she said with a sigh, aiming the remote at the TV. Danny was going to join them after he put Charlie down for the night, but he hadn’t come downstairs yet.   
  
“Hang on a second,” Steve said, taking the remote. “I know Danno’s kind of preoccupied right now, but this is a big deal for him. He didn’t even know Charlie was his son, so it’s like him being born all over again in a way.”  
  
“I guess.”  
  
“Grace, your dad adores you. You know that. He’d do anything for you. That isn’t gonna change because he loves Charlie, too.”  
  
“I liked things the way they were,” she said.  
  
“I know, Gracie. Things were pretty good before all this happened. You had your mom and Stan and Charlie, and then over here you had your dad, and me...two families, two different houses, two rooms, and everything was normal.”  
  
“Yeah, exactly. I wanna go home and it’s not there anymore.”  
  
“Is it the house, and your old room, or the way things were that you miss?”  
  
“All of it,” she replied.   
  
“You miss your mom? You know, kiddo, it’s okay if you do. Even if she did something awful, that doesn’t stop her from being your mom. Trust me on that one,” he said, moving the bowl of popcorn from the coffee table to his lap and tilting it toward Grace, who took a little.   
  
“Did Doris do something awful?”  
  
“She told some pretty big lies, but she had her reasons. I’m still not sure she’s always honest with me,” he said. He’d always talked to Grace almost as if she was another adult. He’d found she was smart enough and mature enough to handle it and they had a good friendship because of it. “The thing is, I really wanted to be mad at her and not even like her when she did come back into my life, but she’s my mom and I still love her.”  
  
“My mom tried to kill Danno. That’s...like the most awful thing she could have done.”  
  
“Yeah, it is.” Steve leaned back on the couch. “When I told Danno what happened, that it was your mom who did it, he begged me not to arrest her because he knew how hard it would be for you.”  
  
“But she tried to kill him,” Grace said, frowning. “He didn’t want her to go to jail for that?”  
  
“He didn’t want you to be unhappy." Steve paused. "He's still willing to give up having her do any jail time if it means she won't fight him for custody of you and Charlie anymore. Because you guys are number one with him. He's figuring a lot of stuff out right now, and this whole thing with Charlie is new...but, Grace, you have a friendship and a bond with your dad that's special, and nothing's gonna take that away. Because if you're not happy, he's not, either. It's that simple."  
  
"You probably think I'm being selfish."  
  
"I think you're being human. And you're being honest. I can work with that," Steve said, smiling. "You know, Gracie, none of this turned out the way I thought it would, either. That doesn't mean it's not gonna be good once we get through all the stuff we're dealing with now."  
  
"You think so?"  
  
"Yeah, I think so. I think we've got all the parts here to put a pretty good ohana together."  
  
"It's not that I don't love you and Danno...my room here is really nice..."  
  
"It's a lot of changes and most of them aren't good. I get it."  
  
"Yeah, that."  
  
"When I was 16, my whole life got basically tossed up in the air and I had to adjust to a whole new way of life. There were times it was hard and it sucked, and it wasn't what I would have picked out, but I survived, and it was okay."  
  
"Thanks, Uncle Steve," she said, resting her head against his arm. He moved his arm to put it around her and kissed the top of her head.   
  
"We'll be okay, Grace. It just takes some time. And popcorn," he added, tipping the bowl toward her again as she giggled at that and took another handful. "If you ever decide you want to talk to your mom, you'll tell me or Danno, right?"  
  
"I kind of do, because I want her to tell me why she hurt Danno like that."  
  
"Then we'll figure something out, okay?"  
  
"Okay." She was quiet a moment. "You want to watch the movie?"  
  
"Yeah. Let me check on Danno first. See if he fell asleep up there with his head hanging all funny out of the chair," he added, and Grace smiled at that. "Sometimes his pain pills make him sleepy. I'll get him so he can either go to bed or sleep on the couch with us while he pretends he's watching the movie."  
  
Steve went upstairs and found Danny sitting in the rocking chair near the crib, watching Charlie sleep.   
  
"I've been thinking about how that used to be your crib," he said, smiling. They'd repainted the room a nice shade of turquoise-blue, and Steve had cleaned up and re-assembled the furniture that had been in the basement from when he was baby. Danny had loved the idea of his son using the same furniture Steve had used.   
  
"He's beautiful, Danny," Steve said softly, touching Danny's shoulder. "It's been a long day, sweetheart. You want to come downstairs and watch a movie with Gracie and me?"  
  
"How long have I been sitting here?"  
  
"Long time, buddy," Steve said with a little smile in his voice. "I think Grace would like to spend a little time with her dad."  
  
"Sorry. I just...I can't get used to him being here. Being mine."  
  
"I know."  
  
"Ours," Danny corrected. "I want him to grow up seeing us both as his parents."  
  
"That means a lot to me, Danno. I want that, too," he said.   
  
"I guess he doesn't need me sitting here staring at him, huh?" Danny said, chuckling.   
  
"He's gonna need us for a lot of things, but I think he's got this one," Steve joked. "Come on, buddy. Let's go downstairs and hang out with Gracie a while. We'll hear him on the nursery monitor if he needs us."  
  
"Okay," Danny agreed, smiling when Steve helped him stand. Then he paused, frowning. "PT's not going very fast," he whispered.   
  
"I know. It takes time, sweetheart," Steve said, running his hand across the back of Danny's shoulders.   
  
"I know. Just...usually not so much with so little progress. I don't want to hesitate to pick up my son because I can't lift him."  
  
"It really hasn't been very long, even though it feels like it." Steve pulled Danny into a hug. "You've got a family counting on you, Danno. You can't let what Rachel did to you pull you down."  
  
"I'm not. I'm doing everything I can - "  
  
"I know. And I know she's your ex, but I also know she's Grace's mother and you still loved her."  
  
"I don't know how she could do that to me."  
  
"I don't either, Danno. But she did, and it sucks, but you've gotta let that part of it go and focus on getting better. You didn't deserve what she did, but there it is."  
  
"If I admit you're right, are you gonna rub my nose in it for the next ten years?" he joked.  
  
"Not on this one," Steve said, pulling back enough to kiss him.   
  
"I want to talk to Sterling about the plea deal."  
  
"What do you want to happen, Danny?"  
  
"I don't want to send my children's mother to prison. I just want her to sign over her parental rights. That's all."  
  
"We'll talk to Sterling about it in the morning."  
  
"You're not gonna talk me into why she should go to prison?"  
  
"I want you to be happy and be able to move on, Danno. Whatever you need for that to happen...I'm on board."  
  
********  
  
Sterling had been very receptive to meeting with Steve and Danny and discussing the potential plea bargain.   
  
"I think this is a good decision," he said. "I'll offer the initial deal with five years for aggravated assault, like we discussed. That will include the condition that she sign away her parental rights, and an admission of guilt. We'll take it from there."  
  
"You think you're going to lose in court, don't you?" Steve asked.  
  
"Jealous husband kills off his wife's ex not only for revenge but to keep him from taking his son away, versus lovely, cultured, innocent soccer mom-type poisoning her ex-husband to win a custody battle. I know which one I'd see as more likely if I were a juror."  
  
"What's your bottom line?" Danny asked.  
  
"Five years' probation, admission of guilt, and signing off her parental rights, but that’s if I’m pinned to the wall. I really think she needs to do some time, even if it’s minimum security for a year. She hired a hitman, for God’s sake.”  
  
“I want my kids free and clear, and I don’t want her able to force them into visitation at some point.”  
  
“I’ll do what I can.”   
  
After the visit to the DA, Steve and Danny stopped for lunch before Steve dropped Danny off at home.   
  
“You think I’m nuts, don’t you?” Danny asked, picking at his sandwich.  
  
“I would push for her to have jail time. Grace only wants to talk to her about why she did it. She doesn’t seem to want to spend time with her. So what are you keeping her out of jail for?”  
  
“Grace may change her mind. I can’t explain it exactly. I just don’t want her in prison. Maybe it’s because I look at Rachel and I see the past...how I felt about her once, her giving birth to Grace and Charlie...just so much stuff between us for so long. I know it doesn’t make sense. She tried to kill me. I should just want revenge.” Danny sighed. “I just want it to be over.”  
  
“You’re a better man than I am, Danno,” Steve said, leaning back in his chair, seeming like he was losing interest in his lunch. “I’d want her to pay.”  
  
“She will. No matter how this goes, her life as she knows it is over.”  
  
“She’ll reinvent herself. Hook up with another rich guy, have a couple more kids, problem solved.”  
  
“You’ve never thought too much of Rachel, have you?”  
  
“Why do you say that?”  
  
“Have you?”  
  
“No. Just curious why you think that though. I tried to keep my mouth shut most of the time.”  
  
“I know you pretty well.”  
  
“I think she treated you like shit for no good reason.”  
  
“Maybe,” Danny said, sighing. “I came out if it with Grace and Charlie, so it’s okay.” Danny was quiet a moment. “Grace wants to talk to Rachel?”  
  
“She wants to ask her why she did it.”  
  
“Wow.”  
  
“She didn’t say anything to you?”  
  
“No, but then I’ve been half asleep on painkillers or focused on Charlie lately. I know I’ve dropped the ball with Grace.”  
  
“You haven’t dropped the ball, Danno. She knows you’re recuperating, and the whole situation with Charlie is a big adjustment.”  
  
“I don’t want her to ever think that anybody’s gonna replace her, and I’m not doing a very good job of showing her that. Rachel has gone through changes, had another kid, but Grace always had me, focused on just her, and now I’m in a new relationship with Charlie in my life and we’re in a different household...I’m putting her through a lot all at once.”  
  
“You can’t help that Rachel tried to kill you or that she lied to you about Charlie. All we can do is pick up the pieces and try to give Grace - and Charlie - the best life they can have.”  
  
“Charlie’s too little to know the difference. He’ll grow up seeing us as his parents and thinking this situation is...well, what his family is supposed to be. Grace has been through so many changes.”  
  
“It’s not like you’re moving her in somewhere that’s totally unfamiliar. Gracie and I have always been close, and she’s used to spending time around my place, so even though it’s an adjustment, it’s not like you met someone new and moved her out of town or something.”  
  
“No, I know.”  
  
“One of these days, I’ll watch Charlie and you can take Grace out on a daddy-daughter day or something. We’ll make sure we do that once in a while.”  
  
“Good idea. Stan’s really stepping up, considering. Paying the nanny and everything. He’s still paying Grace’s tuition.”  
  
“Stan was never really your problem.”  
  
“No, I guess he wasn’t.”  
  
“Hey, you ready to head home?”  
  
“No. I want to go back to work.”  
  
“I know. I won’t be long. I can knock off a little early this afternoon, come home and hang out with my fiancé and our kids.”  
  
“What am I gonna be if I can’t be a cop?” Danny asked softly, toying with a few chips on his plate.   
  
“Charlie’s and Grace’s dad, my husband, and some very important part of Five-0 that we’ll figure out if that happens.”  
  
“You seem real sure about that.”  
  
“I’m sure about us, our family. The rest will sort itself out.” He took Danny’s hand. “When you were shot, it was touch and go for a while if you were gonna make it. Do you know how minor  _everything_  else looks to me compared to that?”  
  
“I love you, too, babe,” Danny said, smiling and squeezing Steve’s hand. "You have any real pressing appointments today?"  
  
"Nothing on the calendar, why?"  
  
"Grace is in school for a couple more hours, and I bet Olivia is about due to take Charlie to the park..." Danny smiled.   
  
"My schedule just opened up," Steve replied.  
  
"What a coincidence," Danny added, still grinning.  
  
********  
  
Danny was right; when they arrived at the house, Olivia was getting ready to take Charlie on an outing. Now that Danny was more mobile, they were using the upstairs master bedroom again. Still, between Danny's healing body and having two kids in the house, they hadn't made love since before the shooting. They'd made out a little, even managed a couple muffled hand jobs, but full-on sex and romance had definitely been on hold.   
  
Steve didn't lose any time taking Danny in his arms and kissing him like he meant it. He'd been so careful not to jostle Danny or put any stress on him that he'd almost forgotten what it felt like to throw his whole heart and soul and body into making love to him.  
  
Almost.  
  
He'd never forget what their first time felt like, or the horror of feeling like Danny was going to be torn away from him forever when they'd just consummated all the looks, touches, and desire of more than two years of denied passion.  
  
He unbuttoned Danny's shirt and pushed it aside. It was a warm day and Danny hadn't worn a t-shirt, so he found himself kissing and caressing and licking his way across Danny's bare chest, hands skimming his sides and then down to his belt, unfastening it and unzipping his pants.  
  
"Whoa, slow down there, tiger," Danny teased. "Let your poor, disabled partner catch up a little," he joked, pulling at Steve's t-shirt until he cooperated with getting it off. Danny didn't quite have the speed and range of motion yet to yank Steve's shirt up and off with any kind of speed.   
  
"As long as none of the important stuff is disabled, we'll work around it," Steve said, kissing him again. "The doctor said this was okay?" Steve asked, breathless, eyeing the tasty little nipples that were lurking amidst all that chest hair.   
  
"He said I could start mild exercise again. This beats the shit out of a treadmill."   
  
"Did he say sex was okay?"  
  
"Steven, will you just relax and enjoy it? I'm not gonna break in half. I know my own body, and it's really ready for this, in case you can't tell by the thing that's poking your thigh right now."  
  
"I don't want to hurt you, Danny," Steve admitted. Danny's life was always precious to him, but now it seemed so fragile and so easily lost that he knew he was afraid to let Danny do much of anything without fussing over him.  
  
Maybe it wasn't Danny who was slowing Danny's recovery down at all.   
  
"Hey, just slow things down a minute and c'mere," Danny said, taking Steve in his arms. "I'm gonna be okay, babe. I can't move too great yet and I've got a side that looks like Dr. Frankenstein stitched it up, but I'm alive and I'm not going anywhere."  
  
"When I thought I was gonna lose you..." Steve knew his voice was coming out shaky and choked and he was surprised Danny even heard him.   
  
"You didn't. You won't."  
  
"I knew if I lost you...I was gonna lose me, too." He didn't know if that would make any sense to Danny, or anyone else, but it was how he felt. If Danny had died from the shooting, he couldn't picture going on without him. He wasn't the type to kill himself, so he wasn't sure what that left him with. Maybe a fate worse than death.  
  
"Hey, Steve, come on, look at me," Danny said, framing Steve's face with his hands. "I'm alive, and it's over. I don't know yet if I'm gonna be everything I was before I got shot, but I'm still here, and for some bizarre reason, you seem to still want to marry me even if this is as good as it gets for me."  
  
"I do, Danny. I do," Steve repeated, and Danny laughed softly. Somehow Danny could do that and Steve knew he was never really laughing  _at_  him. Not ever at his feelings or the things that really mattered.   
  
"Hold that thought for a couple months until we make it official," he replied.   
  
"Are you in a lot of pain? Does moving around like this hurt you too much?" Steve asked. "If I touch it, does it hurt?" he asked, running his fingers hesitantly near the incision site.   
  
"Not as gentle as you are, it doesn't. Besides, the therapist is threatening me with scar tissue massage."  
  
"Can I do that? I mean, when it's time?"  
  
"I'd really like that, babe," Danny said, guiding Steve's hand over the injured area. "I'd trust you more anyway. I've heard it can be kind of painful...not looking forward to it."  
  
Steve looked at his hand on Danny's healing body, and remembered being on his knees on the cement in the garage trying to stop Danny's blood from gushing out of him, trying desperately to keep him alive. The heel of his hand was right over an entrance wound scar, and he felt his control slipping.   
  
"You saved my life, SuperSEAL," Danny said, touching his cheek. "If you hadn't put your hand right where it is now, that day, I'd have bled to death. You kept me here and you kept me alive. There's no way you're gonna hurt me making love to me now."  
  
Steve held Danny close, kissing his way down his neck to his chest, backing them up toward the bed. He resisted the urge to tumble on it with Danny, because he wasn't sure yet that much of a drop and impact would be safe for him. Instead, he waited while Danny lay on his back on the bed and kicked his shoes off. Steve shed his pants and shoes and sat on the bed, gripping Danny's pants and underwear and easing them down over his hips and down his legs as he cooperated with them being removed and tossed aside. Steve looked on the floor and smiled as he lay down by Danny.  
  
"What?" Danny asked, leaning up on his elbow.   
  
"I like having your city boy shoes under my bed," he said, kissing Danny.   
  
"My city boy shoes, huh?" Danny replied, chuckling. "I guess they'll have to deal with your big overbearing combat boots."  
  
"They're not combat boots."  
  
"What are they then?"  
  
"Work boots."  
  
"Goes with the cargo pants, huh? Part of the overall look?"  
  
"Something like that. Do you really care about shoes right now?" Steve asked.  
  
"You started it."  
  
"I was trying to start something entirely different," he said, kissing his way down Danny's chest. "Unless you want to start a fashion blog about my clothing choices."  
  
"Fashion blog? Are you and Gracie tweeting each other about clothes now?"  
  
"She may have mentioned a couple of internet terms I'm trying to get familiar with."  
  
"Impressive," Danny said. "Come on, you can do something better with your mouth than talk."  
  
"That's actually kind of funny coming from you."  
  
"You're not really approaching this the right way for somebody who wants to get lucky."  
  
"Really? You're gonna turn me down now?"  
  
"I'm not gonna turn you down, babe. Not ever," Danny said, pulling him down for a kiss. Steve went back to kissing and licking his way across Danny's chest until he paused to lick and suck at his left nipple, working it with his tongue until Danny groaned in pleasure and Steve could feel it getting hard in his mouth. He moved on to the other and did the same thing.   
  
Danny had been through a lot of pain since the shooting, and it was good to hear him moan for a good reason, to see him feeling good sensations. And it was so good to taste him again, to feel the heat of his naked body so close. He kissed and licked his way down to Danny's navel and teased it, nipping at it. His hand brushed over the different textures of the incision and scarring from the shooting, and it drew Steve's attention there. He kissed the round bullet scar, lingered there, taking his time.  
  
"You don't have to do that," Danny said quietly, touching the back of Steve's head.  
  
"What?" Steve looked up, puzzled.  
  
"I know it's pretty...gross. I'm stitched up like a football with bullet holes in it."  
  
"And you think that grosses me out?" Steve leaned up on his elbow, looking Danny in the eyes.  
  
"It grosses  _me_  out. Come on, Steve, I love you for trying but you can't tell me there's anything sexy about that mess on my side."  
  
"It's part of you, Danny. It's healing...it means you're healing. That's beautiful to me." He paused. "If you don't want me to touch it, I won't."  
  
"I just don't want you to feel like you have to."  
  
"I don't feel that way, sweetheart. There's no part of you I don't want to touch."  
  
“Can’t wait to hit the beach looking like that. Another fucking reason to hate the water.”  
  
“Danny, people with scars go swimming and surfing, hang out on the beach. Scars are a part of life.”  
  
“The bolts in Frankenstein’s neck were part of his life, too, but that didn’t make them attractive.”  
  
“I think there’s a pretty big difference between you and Frankenstein,” Steve said, running his hand over Danny’s chest. “They’ll fade over time and when all the body hair is even again, they won’t show as much.”  
  
“I don’t want Grace to be afraid of me.”  
  
“They’re not that horrifying, Danno. She’s not going to be afraid of you. It’s not like you turned into the Elephant Man. You have scars, and I’m sorry because I can see they bother you, but she’s not gonna love you less or be repulsed by you because of it.”  
  
“Kids are sometimes grossed out by that stuff.”  
  
“Because they don’t understand it. She knows what happened to you, Danny. If we sit down with her and explain what they’re from and she can look at them and ask whatever questions she wants, she’ll be fine. Charlie’s gonna grow up seeing them as part of you. It’s not like I don’t have scars.”  
  
“A few here and there but nothing like this.”  
  
“Huh. And you said I was the topper in this relationship,” Steve replied. Danny stared at him a moment, as if he was deciding whether to be horrified or amused. To Steve’s relief, he burst out laughing.   
  
“Finally got ya, didn’t I?” he said. Steve smiled and hugged him.   
  
“Yeah, you’ve definitely got me.”  
  
Danny reached down and stroked Steve’s semi-erect cock.   
  
“I guess I kind of killed the moment.”  
  
“If I couldn’t regain an erection because you talked too much in bed, I’d need a Viagra drip if we were ever gonna have sex.”  
  
“Fuck you,” Danny replied, laughing. “You’re an asshole.”  
  
“You want to?”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Fuck me.”  
  
“Yeah, more than anything, but it’s too much wiggling around for me right now. Think you can go slow and easy?”  
  
“Sure, but I don’t want to hurt your side.”  
  
“You won’t,” Danny said, shifting onto his good side. He reached behind him and started stroking Steve. “Gotta get you back in the mood here,” he said.  
  
“Won’t take long,” Steve gasped, nibbling at Danny’s neck and his ear, trailing kisses down over his shoulder. Danny’s hand working him over was getting him a little too excited, so he reluctantly stopped him. “Told you it wouldn’t take long,” he said.  
  
“So what flavor is yours?”  
  
“My what?”  
  
“Your lube,” he replied, laughing. “Powdered eggs? Beef jerky?”  
  
“No flavors,” Steve said, reaching across Danny to locate the lube in the night stand drawer. “I want to taste you, not something that reminds me of cheap lip gloss.” He moved down in the bed. “Don’t need this just yet,” he said, kissing around Danny’s tail bone and over the swell of his butt cheeks.   
  
He took his time kissing those firm globes, easing them apart a bit to get at the little pucker there. Danny was moaning and writhing on the bed like he had before. Steve remembered making him crazy the first time they made love, using his tongue with that weird strawberry flavored lube. Danny was tight; it had been a long time since they did it, and then they’d only done it once before Danny was shot. Spending a lazy afternoon tonguing and fingering Danny to get him nice and relaxed sounded just fine to Steve, as long as his own cock would behave itself. The thought of sinking into that tight passage and moving in and out of it between fleshy, round cheeks was getting him more excited than he wanted to be.   
  
“Maybe you better slick things up there pretty soon,” Danny gasped. “Don’t want to miss the main event.”  
  
“I have self-control, Danny,” Steve paused to say, the bizarreness of the situation not escaping him that he had to stop tonguing Danny’s ass to argue with him.   
  
“Does it salute, too, or just follow your orders?”  
  
“It  _silently_  does as its told. A concept that you wouldn’t understand.”  
  
“If you want me to obey you wordlessly, we have a problem, babe.”  
  
“I don’t expect you to anything  _wordlessly.”_  
  
“On second thought, stick your tongue back in there because I haven’t heard anything I liked since you stopped.”  
  
“Is that going to be your suggestion from now on for what I should do whenever I say something you don’t like?”  
  
“Works for me. Be a little awkward on the job, but we’ll figure something out.”  
  
Steve’s cock was still interested in what was going on, but it had taken a bit of the urgency away, which was helpful. Steve got some gel on his finger and moved up to kiss Danny’s neck as he slid his finger inside.   
  
“I need to find something better for you to do with your mouth,” Steve teased, sticking his tongue in Danny’s ear while he worked at stretching him.   
  
“You always want to drive, so let’s see if you can drive while I do  _that_  with my mouth.”  
  
Steve added a second finger and got a bit more aggressive with his stretching.   
  
“I’m going for the gold,” he whispered in Danny’s ear, not wanting him to jerk too painfully when he rubbed over his prostate. Danny let out a cry of pleasure but he’d braced himself a bit so he didn’t aggravate his side too much. Steve used his other hand to stroke Danny, getting him fully hard.  
  
“You better do it, babe, or I’m gonna start without you,” Danny gasped, grinning.  
  
“Better not, and that’s an order.”  
  
“Yeah, fuck you,” Danny replied. Steve laughed out loud at that.   
  
“Ah, that’s not exactly how it’s going here, Danno.”  
  
“Yeah, well, when it does...just brace yourself, babe.”  
  
Steve pushed in a bit, then paused, then tried a bit more. It wasn’t quite as easy in this position as it had been when Danny was on all fours, but he wasn’t ready for anything that athletic yet. He eased the rest of the way in, wrapping himself around Danny, giving him a little time to adjust. There was no way he could get physically closer to Danny, and even though he was dying to thrust and move, there was something so intimate about this moment that he didn’t want to rush it.   
  
“I love you,” he whispered, running his hand over Danny’s chest.   
  
“Love you, too, Steven,” Danny replied, covering Steve’s hand with his.   
  
Steve began moving a bit then, keeping his pace slow and gentle, but it was feeling good, and they were both moaning and mumbling little words of love as they took their time. Steve began stroking Danny again, urging him toward his climax. When he came, it was with a shout of Steve’s name and the wonderful spasms of his internal muscles that brought Steve along with him, coming as he sucked a sweet spot on Danny’s neck then rode out his climax wrapped around him, careful even then not to be too harsh or move to fast.   
  
As they lay there, hearts pounding, breathing heavily, Steve ran his hand back and forth on Danny’s shoulder, kissing him there, then up to his neck and his cheek. He eased out carefully but didn’t give up the closeness of having Danny tucked so perfectly in the curve of his body. Sometimes he could barely stand thinking of how close he came to losing Danny, of those awful moments in the garage at Danny’s place, trying to keep him from bleeding out, wondering how he was going to live without his other half.   
  
“I’m okay,” Danny whispered, and Steve knew he wasn’t talking about the sex. He couldn’t really get words out, so he just held Danny tighter, buried his nose in soft blond hair, and closed his eyes. Danny knew all the words he would say. Danny knew the spoken words and the unspoken ones. He knew Steve’s heart and soul, and loved him like no one else ever had. Or ever would. What else was there to say?


	11. Tainted Love, Chapter Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny's bout with a strange illness ultimately brings Steve and Danny closer, until an unexpected crisis threatens their future. See Chapter One for Notes.

Rachel and her lawyer sat across the polished wood conference table from Steve, Danny, and Sterling. She was dressed in a dark skirt and a white silk blouse, looking very elegant. All the men were in suits and ties. Danny felt like his tie was strangling him, cutting off his air. This felt too much like their divorce meetings, when it felt like Grace was a wishbone and each of them had a good grip and wouldn’t let go. 

“Under the terms of the plea bargain we’re offering, Mrs. Edwards would plead guilty to second degree assault,” Sterling said. “The conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder charges would be off the table. Our sentencing recommendation would be five years, and Mrs. Edwards signs the necessary documents to terminate her parental rights to Grace Williams and Charles Edwards.”

Rachel stared at Danny with an ugly smile on her face. “Well, Danny, congratulations. You finally have the leverage you always wanted to win the custody battle.” She looked at her lawyer. “Why is he even here? I thought this was a meeting between us and the district attorney.”

“Leverage? You think I have leverage? You almost killed me! I have two bullet holes in my body and I don’t even know if I’ll ever be back on active duty again! You call that leverage?” Danny demanded.

“I didn’t to anything to you. Stan is the one who--”

“Stan? Really? Come on, Rachel, you expect me to believe that Stan snuck into the kitchen and sprinkled pesticide on the chicken salad?” Danny shook his head. “Call it leverage, blame Stan, whatever makes you happy, but let’s settle this instead of tormenting Grace with a drawn out trial.”

“Yes, sending her mother to prison for five years will be so much easier on her,” Rachel replied. “Oh, and let’s not forget, terminating my parental rights? You’re crazy if you think I’m signing anything.”

“Rachel, please, let me handle this,” Richmond said, touching her arm. 

“He wants to take my children away. That isn’t happening, Danny,” she said, narrowing her eyes at him. 

“Would you give us a moment to discuss this?” Richmond asked, and Sterling rose, nodding. Danny and Steve followed his lead.

“We’ll be in the waiting room.” Sterling led the way out to the nicely appointed waiting room and they sat in the expensive visitor chairs. “She gets angry fast, doesn’t she?” he asked Danny as they all leaned close to talk quietly.

“Very fast.”

“Richmond is most likely going to keep her off the stand if this goes to trial. I would.”

“Danny?” Steve asked, and his voice startled Danny. He didn’t think he’d been quiet that long, but he obviously had or had missed something he was supposed to answer.

“Sorry,” he said. “Just feels like my divorce all over again. I couldn’t afford a lawyer as good as hers, so I basically got cleaned out and kicked to the curb.”

"Well, that's not happening here," Sterling said. "She's doing some time or the deal's off."

"What?" Danny asked, frowning. "You said you'd go along with probation if she signs over her parental rights."

"She's a ticking time bomb, and I'd be willing to bet she'll go off during her trial. To make her case work, she has to testify and talk about Stan to pin the blame on him. Just give me a few minutes with her on cross examination, and I'll show the jury what she really is. So unless she's serving at least some time under this deal, I'm taking that lady to trial."

"The thing I care about is custody of the kids."

"If she's convicted of trying to kill you, you'll get full custody."

"She could still demand visitation. She's not gonna get life since I'm still walking around."

"No, but she could get long enough that the kids are grown by the time she's out."

"I thought you said she had such a great case, pinning it on Stan," Steve said.

"Oh, she still does, but she's a volatile one, and that can backfire in some beautiful ways on a witness stand. There was something in her expression, in her eyes, when she was telling you off, Danny. It was easy to see the woman who would put pesticide in your food or hire a hit man, in that expression. Juries respond to things like that, too."

Danny stood and headed for the door. "I need some air. Call me if something happens," he said, walking out of the office. He found a bench facing an ornate fountain in front of the office complex and sat there, glad it wasn’t a scorching day and there was a nice breeze. Within a few moments, Steve showed up and sat down next to him. He didn’t say anything right away; he just sat there and waited until Danny broke the silence.

"I don't want to put her in prison. I know you probably think I'm crazy."

"I think she's the mother of your children, and I don't think you ever really stopped loving her, even if you stopped being in love with her."

"Wow." Danny actually smiled. "When did they start teaching that stuff in Navy SEAL training?"

"What? Feelings? I do have them, you know."

"Yeah, I know. I didn't mean that." Danny looked down at his hands, fidgeting. "It's just that it seems so hard to explain and you just...explained it."

"Because I know you, Danny. When you love, you love deeply and unconditionally and forever. Personally, I want to stick around for the rest of our lives so I can enjoy that," he said, taking one of Danny's fidgeting hands in his. "If Rachel said she was sorry right now, you'd probably forgive her."

"Pathetic, isn't it?"

"No," Steve said, shaking his head. "It's fucking amazing, and I can't believe I'm one of the lucky few people you love." Steve kissed the back of Danny's hand. "If she goes to prison, Danny, you aren't sending her there. She put herself there when she chose to try to kill you."

"This is so fucked up," Danny said, his voice shaking. "Even I couldn't picture an ending this bad."

Steve put his arm around Danny's shoulders and kissed his cheek. "Endings suck."

"Yeah they do," Danny agreed.

"Beginnings are good, though. We're just starting, Danny. You, me, Gracie, Charlie...we're a family and we're gonna have a good life together. However this turns out, that's not gonna change."

“We should go back in there,” Danny said, sighing. Steve’s phone pinged with a text message.

“It’s Sterling. They’re ready to talk,” he said.

“Let’s do this,” Danny replied, and they went back into the lawyer’s office, joined Sterling and returned to the conference room.

“We’ve discussed your offer,” Richmond said. “We’re prepared to make a counter-offer. My client pleads no contest to the assault charge, provided the attempted murder and conspiracy charges are dismissed. Since she has no prior record, five years’ probation with mandatory counseling. She will not be relinquishing her parental rights, but will sign an agreement granting full custody to Detective Williams.”

“Well, that’s a very attractive offer,” Sterling said, “for Mrs. Edwards. Unfortunately, given the severity of the assault, and the charges we would be dismissing, it’s not a satisfactory solution. She pleads  _guilty_  to the assault charge, and serves three years in the women’s minimum security correctional center. With good behavior, she could be paroled in a year. Our counter offer also includes mandatory counseling and the same custody agreement.”

“I’m not going to prison!” Rachel exclaimed. “For God’s sake, Danny, do you really want to put your children’s mother in prison?”

“No, I don’t, but I didn’t want you to poison me and have me shot, either. It’s a bad situation all the way around.”

“Mrs. Edwards, you’d be wise to consider that if you reject this plea deal, you could be facing up to life in prison if you’re convicted, and it won’t be minimum security. What we’re proposing is uncomfortable and inconvenient, but it’s nothing compared to what you’ll face if you’re convicted on all the charges.”

“Or she could be acquitted and walk out a free woman,” Richmond said. “We have a good defense, Rachel. Think well before you consent to anything.”

“I need to think about this,” she said.

“You have until the end of the day today, and then the deal’s off and we’re going to trial,” Sterling said, standing. “The state has a pretty solid case, too, so we don’t need to give away the farm here.”

“Grace wants to talk to you,” Danny said to Rachel. “How do we set that up?”

“I’ll be glad to talk to her, anytime. I want to see her.”

“You’d be wise not to talk to her until this matter is settled,” Richmond said. 

“She’s my daughter. I’ll talk to her whenever I please. Name the time and place,” she said to Danny.

“My place,” Steve said. “Outdoors if you like, so you know no one’s listening in. We keep Grace in sight, but we’re out of earshot,” he added.

“All right.”

“I would advise against this, Rachel,” Richmond said.

“I want to see my daughter. Let’s do this today,” she said.

“Fine. Grace will be out of school in a couple hours,” Danny said. “Why don’t you come by the house around 3:00?”

“There’s an order of protection against my client.”

“So I’ll sign something if you want me to so we can make an exception and she can see Grace.”

“We’re all witnesses to Detective Williams consenting to the meeting and Mrs. Edwards’ presence at his home, so I don’t see a need to drag this out,” Sterling said. “Call me by 5:00 tonight with your answer.”

********

Rachel was waiting out by the beach, sitting in a chair. Danny had explained to Grace that she had an opportunity to talk to her mother if she wanted, and that she could refuse if she’d changed her mind. Deciding she wanted to talk to her, Grace went outside and joined Rachel as Danny watched from inside the house, visibly worried.

“She wanted to talk to Rachel,” Steve said, resting his hand on Danny’s back. “You’re doing the right thing.”

“None of this is the right thing for Grace,” he replied, watching as Rachel hugged Grace, who was nearly unresponsive to the gesture. They sat in the chairs, and it was obvious they were having an animated conversation.

“Rachel made this happen, not you, Danny.”

“I know. Even if she takes the plea deal, it’s just custody. She could still sue for shared custody again later, when she’s out of prison.”

“She could. And we’ll fight it if she does.” Steve slid his arms around Danny from behind. “She tried to kill you, Danny. We’re not gonna let her take those kids.”

“She won’t be convicted of that.”

“There’s still a civil lawsuit. Fucked up O.J.’s life in a major way, even though he walked from the criminal trial,” Steve said. “If she’s found responsible for your injuries, she’s gonna have to pony up most of her money, and she’s probably never gonna see custody of those kids again, no matter what kind of lawyer she gets. Assuming she could still afford one.”

“I don’t want money from her.”

“For God’s sake, Danny, she tried to poison you and she put two bullets in you via that idiot she hired to do it.” Steve started pacing. “You don’t want her in prison, you don’t want her to pay anything for it...what is it you want? For her to walk scot-free?”

“I want it to not happen at all!” Danny shouted back. “I want my life back the way it was. I want my daughter to be happy. There’s no happy ending here, Steven. I’m sorry if I’m not screaming for vengeance, but putting Rachel in prison or even having all her money isn’t going to make this situation any better.”

“It would if it solved the custody problem.”

“Maybe. You think she’s all right?” he asked Steve, still watching Grace intently as she talked with Rachel.

“She’s fine. We told her if she changed her mind or didn’t want to talk anymore to just come back to the house, or wave to us.” They both watched, a little stunned as the conversation concluded and Grace hugged her mother for real this time, looking like she didn’t want to let go. Rachel looked like she was verging on tears as Grace started sprinting across the yard toward the house. She burst in through the back door.

“Danno! Mom wasn’t the one who tried to hurt you. It was Stan!” she said. “You’ve got to do something! They’re gonna put Mom in jail and she didn’t do anything!” 

“I’ll be right back,” Danny said, his voice level and calm. There was something deadly in it, and it unsettled Steve as he watched Danny stride across the lawn determinedly. 

“Come on, Grace, let’s go in the living room and give Danno a chance to talk to your mom,” he said, leading her away from the window. He wanted to watch himself, but figured there was going to be a confrontation, and Grace didn’t need to watch that. 

********

“What are you doing?” Danny demanded, his voice raised, when he was halfway to where Rachel stood. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Telling my daughter the truth, Danny. It’s not right that she thinks I tried to kill you.”

“She’s a little girl who doesn’t want her mommy in jail! Of course she believes whatever ridiculous story you tell her because she wants to.”

“What did you want me to do? Make up some reason why I tried to hurt you? That’s what she asked me. Why did I try to hurt Danno? What was I supposed to say to that?”

“The truth might be refreshing.”

“I’m sorry if your little ruse to get a confession out of me didn’t work. But I suppose it’s all right to use your daughter for that.”

“This wasn’t a ruse! I don’t have any listening devices anywhere. We weren’t anywhere near you! What did you think I’d do, wire Grace?”

“How should I know? What did you think I’d do? Confess to trying to kill you when I didn’t do it?”

“You’re going to stick to that lame story that Stan did it, aren’t you?”

“Stan  _did_  do it! I suppose you think because he’s all polite and supportive about handing over Charlie to you that he’s on your side. He’s not, Danny. It was his idea to kill you in the first place!”

“But you make a better chicken salad than he does, so you offered to help out, is that it?”

Rachel looked stricken a moment, as if she’d said something she didn’t mean to say.

“Oh, my God, that’s it. You two were in on it together and now you’re turning on each other.”

“That’s ridiculous and it’s not true.”

“I thought you were awfully quick to throw Stan under the bus and use him as an alternate suspect to save your own ass, but then I didn’t think you’d poison me, either. You both wanted me dead and out of the way.”

“I never wanted you dead, Danny. It was all Stan’s idea.”

“Which you went along with until you got caught.”

“I had no idea he’d poisoned that food.”

“Sure you did.” Danny looked her in the eyes. “I saw the look on your face that morning, when I sent Grace out to the car with the empty bowl, and you couldn’t figure out how in hell I was standing there when I’d supposedly ingested enough poison to kill a half dozen people.”

“So you’re basing your accusations on a look on my face? Really, Danny?”

“Yeah, really. I know you, Rachel. I know when you’re lying, and I can read your expressions. I memorized everything about your face because I used to love you so much that you were all I thought about. I know how you look when you’re happy, when you’re sad, when you’re hiding something, when you’re surprised...”

“Fine, prove it in court then.”

“I probably can’t,” Danny said, shrugging. “But I know it. I hope you and Stan both get what you deserve.”

“You do know she’s never going to believe that I had any part in trying to kill you, right?”

“That’s a possibility, and maybe she’s better off that way. I said if she wanted to have a relationship with you, I wouldn’t stop that. My only reason for wanting control of the custody situation is that I don’t want Grace forced into seeing you or into visitations, and I don’t want Charlie growing up in the shadow of this... _thing_  that happened. If Grace really believes you’re innocent and wants to see you, I’ll make sure she can. And maybe she’ll be happier that way.”

“If I sign that paper, give up my rights to Grace and Charlie, will you keep me out of prison?” she asked, pinning Danny with an intent gaze. “It’s what you’ve always wanted, Danny. You can completely eliminate me as a parent. You’ll have full control.”

“There’s nothing about this situation that I really want, Rachel.”

“You want your children. And now you have them. Just let me have my freedom.” She paused. “What if I tell them everything, the whole truth about Stan and his involvement? Would that be enough to keep me out of prison?”

“Probably not,” Danny replied honestly. “Because then you’re admitting to conspiracy and attempted murder, just with a different conspirator than that brain surgeon you hired who can’t hit the broad side of a barn.”

“He hit you, didn’t he?” she said, her tone about as cold as Danny had ever heard it.

“Yeah, well, not accurately enough, apparently. Sorry about that.” Danny paused. “How did we end up like this? I know our marriage fell apart, and I still don’t know why, but how did you wind up hating me so much that you wanted to see me dead?”

“I’m not saying anything else,” she said, walking away, heading for where her car was parked in the driveway.

“You’re gonna blame it all on Stan? That’s awfully fucking convenient, Rachel,” Danny hollered at her retreating form. 

“It’s the truth!” she shot back, angry, turning on her heel to face Danny. “It’s his fault I’m in this mess so why shouldn’t he pay for it?” she shouted, just as Steve came out the back door, which she didn’t notice. “Just because he made me do his dirty work, I’m not going to prison for it while he sits back and plays the martyr!” No sooner were the words out of her mouth than she noticed Steve standing just outside the back door. She looked panicked a moment and then fled for her car. Steve was right behind her, slapping a pair of cuffs on her. 

“Danny, go inside and stay with Grace. I’ll handle it from here.”

Danny opened his mouth to object, but Steve was right. It was more important that he be with Grace, and there wasn’t much more he could do for, or about, Rachel anymore.

“You can’t arrest me for being here! Danny agreed to it.”

“You know that’s not why I’m arresting you, Rachel. You just admitted to your role in trying to kill Danny, and you’re a flight risk.”

“Who are you calling?” she demanded as he took out his phone.

“The DA. Let him figure out what to do with you.”

********

When Danny went back into the house, Grace was pacing around in the living room. 

“Where’s Mom?”

“She’s got to go back down to headquarters and straighten some things out with the police,” he said, guiding her to sit on the couch with him. “Gracie, I told you before if you want to see your mom or keep in touch with her, even if she has to go to jail, I’ll help you do that. I know you love her, and you don’t have to choose sides between us. But you do need to understand that even if Stan was involved in what happened to me, your mother was, too. If you forgive her for that, it’s okay. Forgiving people is the right thing to do, and being able to do it makes you a very strong, very good person. So I won’t be mad about that, okay?”

“But she said it was all Stan’s fault.”

“I’m beginning to think Stan had a part in it, based on some things your mother said. It might have even been his idea, but she had a part in it. Grace, believe me, I wish there was something I could do to make all this easier for you, but I’m not gonna lie to you to do that. You’re a smart girl, and you deserve to know the truth.”

“If she really hurt you like that, then she should go to jail.”

“It looks like she will, at least for a while.”

“I’m glad you’re okay, Danno.”

“Me, too, Monkey. Hey, I wouldn’t miss out on being here with you for anything. You and Charlie and Uncle Steve...you guys keep me going.”

********

Steve and Danny sat in the courtroom among the other spectators at Rachel’s sentencing. She’d worked out a plea deal in exchange for testifying against Stan and pleading guilty to second degree attempted murder. If she’d gone to trial, the DA was planning to charge her with first degree attempted murder and conspiracy, which would have landed her in prison for life without parole, if convicted. With Danny’s continued intervention on her behalf, because of Grace, the DA offered Rachel a ten-year sentence, with the possibility of parole.

The judge, a stocky man with gray hair and an abrupt manner, listened to the DA and the defense attorney agree to the plea deal. Rachel occasionally stole a glance back at Danny. He looked away, glad that Steve was holding his hand. It had taken so many years of his life for Rachel to finally kill the last of his feelings for her, but they were dead now, and all he cared about was minimizing the damage to Grace. Charlie was young enough to grow up happy and well adjusted whether Rachel was in his life or not, but Grace still loved her mother and believed, probably because she wanted to so badly, the story Rachel told her that painted Stan as the potential killer.

“Mrs. Edwards, I’ve listened to the attorneys and I’ve reviewed this plea deal. Mr. Sterling, I have to say, I think this is an abomination and miscarriage of justice,” the judge said. “There is solid evidence this woman carried out no less than three, possibly four, attempts on her ex-husband’s life, including hiring, or participating in the hiring, of a hit man to do the job for her when poison didn’t work. This wasn’t a heat of passion situation, and she wasn’t driven to her criminal acts by some threat posed by her ex-husband to her or her children. All I can see is that he was an inconvenience in hers and her husband’s life, so together, they carried out multiple attempts to kill him, even endangering the minor child by allowing her to transport poisoned food and be the one to give it to her father, and to be alone with him when he would presumably die a gruesome death from ingesting it.” 

He shook his head, and then he turned to Rachel. “Mrs. Edwards, I am not bound to abide by this plea deal, and I don’t believe it’s worth the paper it’s written on. You’re a cold, calculating, dangerous woman. If I had my way, I’d give you life without parole. The only thing I do agree with is terminating your parental rights. However, you have provided testimony against your conspirators, which puts you in the enviable position of being able to make a deal for yourself. It should not entitle you to wriggle out of this with a slap on the wrist. I’m sorry this is causing pain for your daughter, but that’s an unfortunate outcome of your unthinkable behavior. So, I sentence you to  _twenty_  years in the women’s correctional facility, with the terms of your incarceration there to be aligned with the severity of your crime. There will be no special accommodations such as minimum security status, as was outlined in the original deal. You’re almost a murderer, but for the fortunate accident that your hired shooter didn’t kill Detective Williams. I hope this sentence will give you adequate time to reflect on the error of your ways,” he concluded, banging his gavel. 

Rachel collapsed into her chair, sobbing, consoled by her attorney. Danny didn’t know why he was crying himself, and he did his best to stifle it and wipe at his eyes. He felt Steve’s arm around him, and he was grateful for that, even though he figured Steve probably thought he was nuts for caring. He still remembered Rachel the way she was on their wedding day, watching her give birth to their children, and the life he’d wanted so much with her. That she could end things with wanting to see him dead was devastating, but thinking of Grace visiting her mother in prison for that long, how he was going to break it to her...that was worse.

“Danny, we need to go,” Steve said gently, urging him to stand. He’d kept his head down, his hand shielding his eyes. 

“Yeah, I know. Sorry,” he mumbled.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. Let’s go home, huh?”

“How am I gonna tell her?”

“We’ll tell her together, and we’ll get through it. I promise.”

Danny looked over his shoulder to see Rachel being handcuffed and led out of the courtroom. He put his arm around Steve’s waist and leaned into him as they walked out of the courthouse. He let Steve do what Steve did best, giving off the McGarrett Icy Stare of Death to any reporters who tried to bother him and protecting Danny from the onslaught until they got into the car and started toward home. 

********

Steve was glad he could participate in Danny’s recovery by helping with the massage therapy, but he also hated that it hurt him, that what he was doing made him wince and occasionally let out a little sound of pain. 

“I should be happy. I have permanent custody of Grace and Charlie, and Rachel got what she deserved. Stan’s probably going to be close behind her. Man, what a chump I am. I actually believed him.”

“So did I. So did Sterling. Stan’s cooler about things than Rachel. She’s hot-headed and reacts a lot more emotionally, which is what put her where she is.” Steve carefully worked on a stubborn spot. He’d gotten good at feeling out the tight areas with his fingers and carefully but assertively working on them. Danny was lying there on the bed in just his shorts, and Steve wished they didn’t have something so unpleasant to spend their time on when they were both on the bed in their underwear. 

“She should have taken the deal from the outset. Ouch, fuck,” Danny muttered.

“Sorry, Danno,” Steve replied, wincing. “You know what they say about hindsight. The whole mess is tragic and shouldn’t have happened.”

“Please, just...stop, okay?” Danny said, taking a hold of Steve’s wrist to slow the movement of his hand.

“I know it hurts, but I haven’t even been doing this half as long as I’m supposed to and--”

“I just...I can’t right now, okay? If skipping one night is gonna kill me, so be it.”

“Okay,” Steve relented, kissing the area near Danny’s scars. He stretched out next to him and pulled him close, until they’d tangled their legs together and had no space between them. 

“Grace blames me for her mother being in prison,” he said softly.

“No, she doesn’t. She knows it’s out of your hands.”

“She knows it, but she doesn’t feel it. I’m supposed to be her hero...save the day for her.”

“She’s growing up, Danno. Unfortunately this made her grow up really fast, faster than she should have had to. But she had to find out sooner or later that you’re human like the rest of us, and that there are some things you can’t control.”

“I know. I was just kind of hoping the milk the hero title for a few more years before she becomes a teenager and thinks I’m hopelessly stupid,” he added, smiling.

“She’s confused and upset and I don’t blame her. She loves her mother and it’s hard to face when someone you love does something awful. Are you gonna be able to handle it if she always thinks Rachel is innocent?”

“I want her to be happy, and if that helps, there’s nothing to be gained by her agreeing with me about it and being more unhappy.”

“How about if I do something to make you happy?” Steve suggested, kissing Danny, fidgeting with the drawstring on his shorts. 

“I’m all yours, babe,” Danny said, touching his shoulder. 

“Makes me pretty lucky,” Steve replied, moving down as he slipped Danny’s shorts off, taking Danny’s cock in his mouth, working it with lips and tongue, focusing all his attention on pleasuring him. Danny had been through so much emotional and physical pain lately, that just seeing him sigh for a good reason and moan and smile was worth everything. He wasn’t worried about himself; holding and massaging Danny’s ass, remembering the last time he’d fucked that perfect ass, was plenty of imagery to get his imagination, and his erection, going. 

He loved the way Danny’s balls filled his hand so perfectly and the soft, velvety skin of them. He had Danny moaning and writhing on the bed now, gripping the sheets, growing to full hardness in Steve’s mouth. Danny tried feebly to warn him he was coming, but Steve knew that, and tongued him just the right way to push him over the edge, amused as Danny grabbed a pillow and bit into it to keep from letting out a scream that would wake the kids, and probably half the island. 

“Bring that up here,” Danny said, reaching down to feel that Steve was still hard. 

“I should make you stretch and move to do it. The exercise is good for you.”

“Steven, if you want me to suck your dick, bring it here and don’t turn this into physical therapy.”

“Yes, sir,” Steve replied, executing a crooked salute before obeying Danny’s orders. He held onto the headboard while he knelt on either side of Danny’s head, biting his lip when his cock slid into that hot, wet suction. That, and the wet finger that eased itself into his ass were enough to make him come, stifling his cries of pleasure through sheer force of will. 

When it was over, they lay there, breathing heavily, recovering. Steve took Danny’s hand and they relaxed a bit, side by side, just holding hands. 

“I bet fucking you silly would be good exercise,” Danny said. Steve laughed out loud at that.

“I bet it would, Danno.”

“In about half an hour, wake me up and we’ll do it,” Danny said through a yawn. 

“You got it, sweetheart,” Steve said, though he had no plans to disturb Danny if he fell into a deep sleep. 

“You’re not gonna wake me up, are you?” Danny asked, grinning, though he was nearly asleep.

“Probably not.”

“Okay. Night, babe.”

“Night, Danno,” Steve replied, kissing his shoulder, letting himself doze.

********

Danny was running at full speed, keeping the perp in sight as he dodged a couple trash cans the fleeing man tipped over in his path and then jumped over the hood of a parked car and knocked him to the ground with a full-body tackle that winded his prisoner with an audible whoosh of outgoing breath as they both hit the ground. Straddling his back, Danny put the cuffs on him and yanked him upright to his feet. 

“Oh, shut up,” he finally said, exasperated with the young man’s whining and complaining about his injuries, real or perceived. “I’m twice your age and I’ve had my guts pasted back together and I can still outrun you.”

“This is police brutality, man!” he shouted at Danny.

“It is, huh? I could have shot you, you dumb fuck, and then I wouldn’t have messed up my good pants on that tackle. Now move,” he said, nudging the protesting prisoner toward the waiting HPD black-and-white. 

“Nice catch, partner,” Steve said as he showed up with the perp’s accomplice, letting the uniformed cops take him as well. 

“Not bad for the first full day back on active duty,” Danny said, laughing. “Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’ve missed all this.”

“Next time warn me so I can record something like that. I thought I was the maniac crazy animal or whatever it is you called me this week.”

“You are, but after spending so much time behind a desk, I can see the appeal a bit more, I guess.”

“Hey, I gotta get a move on. I’m taking Gracie for her visit.”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot about that.”

“Sorry to bring it up,” Steve said as they returned to the Camaro and got in, Steve driving. 

“It is what it is,” Danny said, checking the stains on his pants. “That asshole should buy me new pants.”

“We’ll work that into the plea deal if he rolls on Sanchez,” Steve said, referring to the drug dealer for whom their two perps allegedly worked.

“When you take Grace, do you see Rachel?” Danny asked.

“The first time I did, because I wanted to see where they’d be meeting and check out the security, make sure Grace was safe. Now I don’t go all the way in but I use my credentials to be in the general area. There are other cons out of their cages for visiting at that time, and I want to keep an eye on Grace until she’s back out of there. Rachel is the only prisoner I want her talking to.”

“Thanks. Same thing I’d do,” Danny said with a faint smile. “I know I should just take her myself.”

“I don’t mind. Gives us some bonding time on the ride back and forth, and there’s no reason for you to keep dwelling on this situation.”

“My daughter is visiting her mother in prison. How can I not dwell on that?”

“Maybe because it’s not your fault. Rachel put herself where she is, and so did Stan. You’re not the bad guy because they went to prison for trying to kill you.”

“Grace has to blame me. On some level.” Danny stared out the passenger window. “I did everything I could to reduce Rachel’s sentence...”

“You did everything you could about all of it. You’re not even actively working at turning Grace against Rachel, which is pretty damn understanding if you ask me.”

“It’s not for Rachel. It gives Grace some comfort to correspond with her mother and make her things and go visit her. I can’t take that away from her. When she’s older, I want her to look over the case and get more familiar with the evidence. And if she still believes in her mom as an adult, well, then so be it, I guess.” Danny sighed. “Or if she understands what happened and wants to forgive her...that’s gonna be kind of hard to swallow, but I told her she didn’t have to choose between us, and she doesn’t.”

“Grace may see a lot of things differently when she’s older, Danny. She’s a little girl and she wants to believe her mother, and Rachel’s lying to her, so what’re you gonna do?”

“On a happier note, my mom called earlier and everything’s all set for their flight next week. Looks like we’re getting married, buddy.”

“Can’t wait,” Steve said leaning over and kissing Danny in the middle of traffic, drawing a few blaring horns as he drifted out of his lane. 

“If you don’t kill me first,” Danny protested. “Are you crazy?”

Steve swerved and calmly went back to driving. 

“Crazy about you, Danno,” he replied, grinning.

 


End file.
